# Free LinkedIn Connection Request Message Generator Write a LinkedIn connection request message that fits the box. A free account gets 200 characters, Premium gets 300, and this writes to whichever one you have. On a free LinkedIn account the connection request message character limit is 200. Not 300. The 300 is real enough, it just belongs to Premium, and nearly every generator online writes to it anyway. That is how you end up holding a note the invitation box will not take. This one asks which account you have first. Paste the profile of the person you are writing to, say what you do in a line, and it reads their headline, their About and what they are doing now. Why you are reaching out is optional. You get three drafts, longest to shortest, and the count on each card is the length of the exact text the copy button hands you. Their first name goes in the note rather than a placeholder, read off the profile you pasted. A tool that writes "Hi [Name]" is counting a string you are going to edit, so its number was never about your note. ## The LinkedIn connection request character limit, and where the number comes from Two pages in LinkedIn's Help centre give the same split. [Personalize invitations to connect](https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a563153) says each message can be up to 200 characters. [Differences between InMail messages and personalized invitations](https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a6239760) sets the two side by side: 200 on a basic account, 300 on Premium. So the LinkedIn connection request message character limit is not one number. It depends on which account is sending it, and most people are sending from the smaller one. A second restriction sits underneath that one. On a free account you only get a few personalised invitations a month. LinkedIn's published figure for how few has not been consistent, so check the invitation box on your own account rather than trusting a number you read anywhere, this page included. Once they are gone you can still send requests, they just go out blank. Premium lifts the cap. That changes what a note is worth. On a free account a typo is not a small mistake, it costs you one of the few personalised invitations you had. Good reason to read the draft before you send it, and a better reason not to let a tool write you 264 characters and tell you that is fine. ## What fits in 200 characters At 300 you can write four sentences and still be a bit charming. At 200 you cannot, and the fix is not the same note written shorter. It is a different note. ### The greeting, about 10 "Hi Maya," and nothing behind it. "I hope this finds you well" costs 25 characters and says nothing. ### The line about them, about 90 The specific thing off their profile. It should take the most room, because it is the part that proves you did not send this to everyone. ### Your own line, about 70 Your role plus one concrete detail. Not your career, one line of it. ### The close, about 30 Enough for "Glad to connect." Not enough for a pitch, which is the point. Add it up and you land near 200 with a little slack. Nothing else fits. No preamble, no compliment, no ask. That split is our allocation of LinkedIn's number rather than LinkedIn's own advice, so treat it as a shape to aim at rather than a rule. At 300 the close can breathe and you can say why you are reaching out, so if you have Premium, use the room. On a free account the ask waits until after they accept, which is honestly where it belonged. ## Why most connection requests get ignored A blank request hands the work to the recipient. They open a notification from a stranger and have to reconstruct, off a headline alone, why this person is in their day. Most people do not bother. A note with nothing specific in it barely helps. "I would love to connect and expand my network" tells the reader you sent this to everyone, because you could have. The sentence that does the work is the one only you could have written, and it is nearly always a detail. The number inside the post. The thing they said at the end of a talk that nobody else picked up on. Which is why the tool reads their profile instead of guessing. Feed a generator nothing but your own job title and it will hand you back the generic note you came here to avoid. There are no acceptance-rate percentages on this page either. I went looking for the study behind the ones other pages quote, and every trail ended at another tool's blog post citing a third tool's blog post. ## How to write the note 1. **Paste their LinkedIn profile URL**. The /in/ link for the person you want to reach. The tool reads their headline, their About and their current role, and their first name goes straight into the note, so the character count is the number you are actually sending. 2. **Say who you are in a line**. Your role plus one concrete detail. What you do that is relevant to them, not a summary of your career. 3. **Add why you want to connect, if there is more to it**. Optional. Plenty of notes do not need it, because the thing on their profile is the reason. Leave it blank and the note closes plainly. 4. **Pick free or Premium**. Free caps you at 200 characters, Premium at 300. The tool writes to whichever you choose and checks every draft against it on the server before you see it. 5. **Copy the draft that fits and change one word**. All three fit the cap. Before you send it, swap our phrasing for the detail only you know, because the reader can tell. ## Frequently asked questions ### What is the LinkedIn connection request character limit? On a free account, 200. On Premium, 300. LinkedIn's Help centre states both, on its [page on personalising invitations](https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a563153) and on the page comparing InMail with personalised invitations. Most tools and most articles quote 300 for everyone, which is where the confusion comes from. Spaces and punctuation count. So do emoji, and they are expensive. ### Why does every other site say the limit is 300? Because the number is easy to repeat without checking, and because 300 is right for some people. LinkedIn splits the cap by account type and most pages on this topic never caught up. If you have Premium, 300 is your number. If you do not, a 300-character note will not go. ### Does Premium really get a longer connection request message? Yes, and LinkedIn documents the difference on its [InMail and invitations comparison page](https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a6239760): 200 characters for a basic account, 300 for Premium. Flip the toggle above and the tool writes to the larger cap and counts against it. ### Why does it ask for their LinkedIn profile URL? Because the first sentence has to name something real about them, and writing that sentence is the part nobody does well under time pressure. Paste the link and the tool reads their headline, their About and their current role, then opens the note on one specific thing it found there. A third-party scraping service reads the public profile page, the same information anyone gets by opening the URL, and we do not store it after writing the notes. A private profile, or one LinkedIn declines to serve, comes back unreadable and the tool says so rather than inventing the detail. ### Is this free, and do I need to sign up? Free. No signup, no email. There is a daily limit per visitor so nobody can run up the bill for everyone else, and you will not reach it in a normal afternoon. ### Should I edit the note before sending it? You should. Copy it, then swap our version of your detail for the one you would have written. That is usually the difference between a note that reads like you and one that reads like a tool. Each card shows its character count, so you can see how much room an edit leaves you. ### Should I ask for something in the first message? Not usually. The note's only job is getting accepted. In 200 characters an ask reads as a pitch, because there is nothing left over to make it read as anything else. Wait until they accept and you have a full message box. ### Does this work for recruiters and job applications? Yes. Put what you are looking for in the "why connect" line and the note closes on it, which is what a recruiter needs to read. For someone whose work you follow, leave that line blank so the note stays on their work. Same three sentences either way. ## More free LinkedIn tools The rest of the set. All free, all without an account. - [LinkedIn Comment Generator](/tools/linkedin-comment-generator): Three drafts on three named angles, from the post you just read. - [LinkedIn Hook Generator](/tools/linkedin-hook-generator): Eight opening lines, each measured against the line the feed cuts at. - [LinkedIn Headline Generator](/tools/linkedin-headline-generator): The line they read before they decide whether to accept. - [LinkedIn Post Generator](/tools/linkedin-post-generator): A full draft from one paragraph about what happened. No signup. - [Free LinkedIn tools](/tools): The full set of free, no-signup LinkedIn tools we build and maintain.