Last updated: September 2026
Is the LinkedIn API free?
Yes, for posting to your own profile. Share on LinkedIn and Sign In with OpenID Connect are self-serve: add them to a developer app and post the same day, with no fee. LinkedIn publishes no API price at all. What is gated is access, not money: Company Pages, ads, Sales Navigator and Talent need LinkedIn review.
Below: every LinkedIn API product and what it takes to get, the daily limits exactly as LinkedIn documents them, and the costs that do not show up on a price list. For X and Bluesky next to LinkedIn, see is there a free social media posting API.
LinkedIn API products: free/self-serve vs partner-only, what each unlocks
As of September 2026, from LinkedIn's Getting Access and Increasing Access docs.
None of these rows has a LinkedIn price attached. LinkedIn's API Terms of Use state that the APIs are currently provided for free, and that LinkedIn reserves the right to charge for them in the future. Monthly figures quoted online for a "Marketing API" come from vendors reselling access, not from LinkedIn.
Only the first two rows are open to everyone
LinkedIn's own wording: open permissions are the only permissions available to all developers without special approval. Those are profile, email and w_member_social. Everything else starts with an application that LinkedIn can reject.Daily limits for posting
LinkedIn limits API calls per day, not posts. A text post is one call. A post with images is more: each image is registered and uploaded before the post itself is created.
That is where the 100 versus 150 disagreement comes from. 150 per member per day is the table on the Share on LinkedIn page, the self-serve product. 100 per member is the Community Management Development tier, the vetted Company Page product. They are limits on two different products, and both count requests, not posts.
The Share on LinkedIn page documents the older /v2/ugcPosts endpoint. LinkedIn does not print a separate number for /rest/posts on a self-serve app, and its rate limits page says standard limits are not published. To see yours, open your app in the Developer Portal and go to the Analytics tab. It lists usage and limits only for endpoints you have called at least once that UTC day, so make one test call first.
The costs that are not on a price list
Free to call is not free to run. These are the parts that take time on a self-serve integration.
A developer app tied to a LinkedIn Page
Creating an app in the Developer Portal asks for your organization's LinkedIn Page, even though Share on LinkedIn posts to a personal profile. You also host an HTTPS redirect URL for the OAuth flow.
A re-sign-in every 60 days
All access tokens are issued with a 60-day lifespan. Programmatic refresh tokens are only for a limited set of approved partners, so a self-serve app has to send the member through the OAuth screen again.
No scheduling endpoint
PUBLISHED is the only lifecycleState accepted on create. Scheduling means storing posts and running your own cron or queue to send them on time.
No Company Pages without review
w_organization_social only comes with the Community Management API, which is closed to individuals and needs LinkedIn to vet the app.
No reading your own posts back
r_member_social, needed to list a member's posts, is restricted to approved users. A self-serve app can write posts but not fetch the member's post history.
A monthly API version to track
Every call carries a LinkedIn-Version header in YYYYMM form, and old versions are retired. Version 202510, for example, is sunset on 15 October 2026.
The 60-day sign-in is the one that breaks automations quietly. The detail, and what to do about it, is in why the LinkedIn token expires after 60 days.
If you just want to post
With a self-serve app that has Share on LinkedIn and Sign In with OpenID Connect, one call publishes a text post to the member's profile. The author is the member URN built from the sub value OpenID Connect returns.
curl -X POST https://api.linkedin.com/rest/posts \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $LINKEDIN_TOKEN" \
-H "LinkedIn-Version: 202608" \
-H "X-Restli-Protocol-Version: 2.0.0" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"author": "urn:li:person:YOUR_MEMBER_ID",
"commentary": "Posted through the LinkedIn API.",
"visibility": "PUBLIC",
"distribution": {
"feedDistribution": "MAIN_FEED",
"targetEntities": [],
"thirdPartyDistributionChannels": []
},
"lifecycleState": "PUBLISHED",
"isReshareDisabledByAuthor": false
}'A 201 response carries the new post id in the x-restli-id header. We checked this on 15 September 2026 with a self-serve app at version 202608: text, single-image, multi-image and document posts all worked, the token came back with expires_in of 5,183,999 seconds, and there was no refresh token. The full walkthrough is in how to post to LinkedIn with the API in Python.
If you would rather not run the OAuth flow, the token renewals and a scheduler yourself, OpenTweet does that part. Connect your personal LinkedIn profile once, then post or schedule with one request. You do not create a LinkedIn developer app.
curl -X POST https://opentweet.io/api/v1/posts \
-H "Authorization: Bearer ot_your_key" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"text": "Posted through OpenTweet.",
"platforms": ["linkedin"],
"scheduled_date": "2026-10-01T09:00:00Z"
}'Swap scheduled_date for "publish_now": true to post immediately, or add "x" and "bluesky" to the array to send the same post to all three networks. LinkedIn is included on every plan. Posts go to your personal profile only; OpenTweet does not post to Company Pages. When the 60-day LinkedIn sign-in runs out, scheduled LinkedIn posts are held and you get an email to reconnect in one click.
7-day free trial. Cancel anytime.
Frequently asked questions
Is the LinkedIn API free?
Yes. LinkedIn's API Terms of Use say the APIs are currently provided for free, while reserving the right to charge in the future. Posting to your own personal profile uses two self-serve products, Share on LinkedIn and Sign In with LinkedIn using OpenID Connect, which any developer can add to an app without approval. Company Pages, advertising, Sales Navigator and Talent integrations are free of API fees too, but gated behind LinkedIn review.
How much does the LinkedIn API cost in 2026?
LinkedIn publishes no API price. As of September 2026 the API Terms state the APIs are currently free. Monthly figures you may see quoted for a "Marketing API" come from third-party vendors packaging access, not from LinkedIn's documentation. What access actually costs you is setup and maintenance: a developer app, an OAuth flow, a re-sign-in every 60 days and a monthly API version to keep current.
How many posts per day can I make through the LinkedIn API?
LinkedIn counts API calls, not posts, per 24 hours, resetting at midnight UTC, with a per-member and a per-application limit. The Share on LinkedIn page lists 150 requests per member and 100,000 per application per day. LinkedIn also says standard limits are not published in general and are shown per endpoint in your app's Analytics tab in the Developer Portal. A post with images uses more than one call.
Why do some sources say 100 posts a day and others 150?
They are quoting two different LinkedIn documents. 150 requests per member per day is the table on the Share on LinkedIn page. 100 calls per member and 500 per app per 24 hours is the Development tier of the Community Management API, the vetted product for Company Pages. Neither number is a post count, and the Development tier limit does not apply to a self-serve Share on LinkedIn app.
Do I need LinkedIn partner approval to post through the API?
Not to post to your own personal profile. Share on LinkedIn grants w_member_social through self-service in the Developer Portal. Posting to a Company Page needs w_organization_social, which comes with the Community Management API, available only to registered legal organizations for commercial use after LinkedIn reviews the app.
Does the LinkedIn API have a scheduling endpoint?
No. On the Posts API, PUBLISHED is the only lifecycleState accepted when creating a post, so there is no publish-at time. To schedule, you store the post and call the API yourself at the right moment, which means running your own job runner.
Does OpenTweet charge extra for LinkedIn?
No. LinkedIn is included on every OpenTweet plan, from $11.99 a month on Pro, with a 7-day free trial. You connect your personal LinkedIn profile with one click, and posts go out through LinkedIn's self-serve Share on LinkedIn product.
Sources: LinkedIn API Terms of Use, and the Microsoft Learn LinkedIn docs for Getting Access, Share on LinkedIn, Sign In with LinkedIn using OpenID Connect, Posts API, Rate Limits, 3-Legged OAuth, Refresh Tokens, Increasing Access and Community Management App Review. Checked 23 September 2026.
Keep exploring
LinkedIn access, tokens and scheduling, and how X compares.
Do I need LinkedIn partner approval?
Not for your own profile. Where LinkedIn review does apply, and why.
Why LinkedIn tokens last 60 days
No refresh token on self-serve apps, and what OpenTweet does at expiry.
Does the LinkedIn API support scheduling?
No publish-at field, and what to run instead.
Post to LinkedIn from Python
The OAuth flow and a working /rest/posts call, step by step.
Is there a free social media posting API?
X, Bluesky and LinkedIn compared side by side.
Is the X API free in 2026?
No. What X charges per post, and per post with a link.
Post to LinkedIn without building the integration
No LinkedIn developer app, no token renewal code, no cron. LinkedIn, X and Bluesky on every plan, from $11.99 a month.
7-day free trial. Cancel anytime.