# Is the LinkedIn API free? Partly. Here is what is.

> LinkedIn's open API is free but covers only sign-in and posting. Reading profiles, search and jobs needs a partner programme or a paid data API.

Canonical: https://apiforagents.dev/guides/is-the-linkedin-api-free · Updated 2026-10-16

LinkedIn's open permissions are free: Sign in with LinkedIn (the signed-in member's name, headline, photo and email) and Share on LinkedIn (post for that member). Everything else (other people's profiles, people search, company data, jobs) needs a LinkedIn partner programme, or a data API like this one at $0.004 a profile with a $0.10 free trial for agents.

- Sign-in, posting: Free
- Profiles, search: Partner or paid
- Here: $0.004 / profile
- Trial: $0.10

## Free or not, by what you need

| You need | LinkedIn's API | Here |
|---|---|---|
| Log users in with LinkedIn | Free | Not offered |
| Post for a signed-in user | Free | Not offered |
| Read any public profile | Partner programme | $0.004 |
| Search people | Partner programme | $0.004 per profile |
| Job listings | Talent partners | $0.001 per listing |

## The easiest way to try

Agents can start on a $0.10 trial with no card: that is about 25 profiles or 100 job listings. After that you top up from $5, with no subscription; unused money is kept.

## Questions

### Is the LinkedIn Sales Navigator API free?

No. Sales Navigator API access is for approved partners of LinkedIn's Sales Navigator Application Platform.

### Is there a free LinkedIn jobs API?

LinkedIn's job APIs are for approved talent partners. Here, job listings are $0.001 each, so 1,000 listings cost $1.

## Sources

1. [LinkedIn (Microsoft Learn): Getting Access to LinkedIn APIs](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/linkedin/shared/authentication/getting-access), seen 16 October 2026

## Why API for Agents

- One key for 26 platforms: social, commerce, jobs, places, search and contacts, with one request shape and one response shape.
- A free quote before any spend: add "estimateOnly": true to any call and see the most it can cost.
- Pay per record in US dollars. No subscription, nothing expires, top-ups from $5.
- $0.10 free to try, no card. An AI agent can sign itself up in one request; a person claims it later.
- Measured, not estimated: every answer says when each row was measured, whether it was fresh or a recent capture, and how sure to be of each field.
- Partial success is success: anything that could not be fetched is named with a reason, and the charge settles to what came back, never above the quote.
- Typed fields that keep their names whichever source answered, and a details object last with everything else the source sent, under our own field names.
- Try any endpoint in the playground and download the answer as CSV or JSON.

## Start

The playground runs any endpoint by hand: pick a platform and what you want from it, fill a short form named in plain words (or press Use sample input), see the free quote on the Run button, run it, then read the answer as a table or JSON and download it as CSV or JSON. The same call is written out as cURL, Python and Node while you type. Open it at https://apiforagents.dev/dashboard/run (sign in first).

Agents register at https://apiforagents.dev/auth.md (one POST, $0.10 free). People: https://apiforagents.dev/docs#start. Prices: https://apiforagents.dev/pricing.md