Guide
Does LinkedIn have an API? What's open in 2026
Yes, LinkedIn has APIs, but only two are open to any developer: signing members in and sharing on their behalf. Everything else needs LinkedIn's approval or a partner program. Here is what each one allows, from LinkedIn's own docs, and what unofficial APIs do instead.
By Lempile · Updated
The short answer
LinkedIn's API documentation is organized by business line: consumer, marketing, sales, talent, learning and compliance. Only two products are open to every developer: Sign In with LinkedIn (OpenID Connect) and Share on LinkedIn. Everything else needs LinkedIn's approval, a partner agreement, or is closed.
Every LinkedIn API, and who can use it
| Product | What it does | Access |
|---|---|---|
| Sign In with LinkedIn | Signs a member in; returns their own name, photo and email | Open to all developers |
| Share on LinkedIn | Posts on the signed-in member's behalf | Open; 150 requests per member a day |
| Events Management | LinkedIn events | Self-serve, on request |
| Advertising | Ad campaigns | Approval required |
| Community Management | Company Pages: posts, comments, analytics | Vetted product, approval required |
| Sales Navigator (SNAP) | Sales Navigator in CRMs, messages to leads | Partners only; no new partners accepted |
| Talent | Job posting, applications, recruiter integrations | Partner programs |
| Learning | LinkedIn Learning content and reporting | Partner program |
| Compliance | Archiving and monitoring communications | Closed, can't be requested |
What the official API doesn't let you do
- Read other members' profiles. The Profile API is restricted to developers LinkedIn approves, and data about other members may not be stored. Sign In returns only the signed-in member's own basics. See how to read profiles instead.
- Read or send a member's messages. LinkedIn documents messaging only for approved marketing apps managing a Page's messages, and for approved Sales Navigator partners, who aren't being accepted at the moment.
- Send connection invitations. There is no official API for them.
Is it free?
LinkedIn's API Terms of Use say it currently charges no fee for its APIs, and that it may choose to in the future. Usage is capped instead: Share on LinkedIn, for example, allows 150 requests per member a day. What the alternatives cost is in LinkedIn API pricing.
What unofficial APIs do instead
Unofficial LinkedIn APIs, Lempile and Unipile among them, work through a member's own LinkedIn account: the member connects it, and the API reads and acts as that member, in their session. That's how they offer what the official API doesn't: profiles, the inbox, messages, invitations, posts, comments and search.
The catch is in LinkedIn's User Agreement, which asks members not to use bots or other unauthorized automated methods to access LinkedIn, send messages or add contacts, and lets LinkedIn restrict accounts. So the member who connects an account takes on that risk. A good unofficial API keeps it low (Lempile keeps each account on its own session and IP and paces every call), but none can remove it. More on pacing in LinkedIn connection and invitation limits.
Which one to use
- Signing users in, posting on their behalf, ads or Company Pages: the official APIs, starting with the self-serve products.
- Your product needs to act in your users' inboxes and networks (messages, invitations, profile reads, comments): an unofficial API, with each user connecting their own account knowingly.