Automation rate limits are the maximum number of actions, like connection requests, messages, or profile scrapes, you can safely perform per platform per day. Every social network enforces its own limits, and exceeding them can trigger warnings, temporary restrictions, or account flags. The tables below list the recommended daily limits for LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter/X, and YouTube, broken down by action type and Phantom.
What are rate limits
Rate limits control how many actions you can perform within a specific time period. Many websites and apps enforce rate limits to manage network traffic, ensure stability, and detect bot-like behavior. Both manual and automated actions count toward your total usage.
Platform-specific limits
LinkedIn rate limits
LinkedIn rate limits will vary depending on your account type and how active it is.
Here’s a breakdown of the main LinkedIn rate limits (with some caveats):
- If you use PhantomBuster’s email discovery service: You should only process half of the recommended limits. This is because the automation has to open 2 pages per profile to run the email search.
- If you launch more than one automation: These limits only apply to one automation. For multiple sequences, check the maximum limit for each tool and divide it by the number of automations you’re running.
- If you’re running multiple actions across various Phantoms at once: Space out your automations’ launches to stop LinkedIn from spotting "bot behavior."
- If you’re working over long periods: Change your launch times occasionally. LinkedIn may become suspicious if your automations launch at the same time for a while.
Profile scraping
Profile scraping is one of the most popular LinkedIn automation actions, but it’s also one of the most sensitive.
Limits vary depending on which Phantom you use, and it’s essential not to mix them up. Connection request limits in particular are dynamic and depend on your account activity, LinkedIn may enforce lower limits on newer or less active accounts.
| Action | ❄️ New/infrequently used account (including Premium accounts) < 2,000 connections |
🔥️ Frequently used Free account > 5,000 connections |
💰 Frequently used Premium account > 2,000 connections OR Advanced Edition Sales Navigator account |
Phantoms Impacted |
|
Auto-connecting These limits are enforced dynamically and adjust based on your account activity. |
Up to 50–80 invites per week | Up to 80–100 invites per week |
Up to 100 invites per week (Some higher-trust accounts may tolerate 120–150 invites per week) |
LinkedIn Auto Connect |
| Extracting search results |
1000 results per day (1 launch per day) |
1000 results per day (1 launch per day) |
2500 results per day (1 launch per day) |
LinkedIn Search Export Sales Navigator Search Export Sales Navigator List Export |
| Auto-following |
80 follows per day (10 follows per hour, with 8 launches per day) |
80 follows per day (10 follows per hour, with 8 launches per day) |
150 follows per day (15 follows per hour, with 10 launches per day) |
LinkedIn Auto Follow |
| Auto-messaging | Up to 80 messages per week | Up to 80 messages per week | Up to 150 messages per week | LinkedIn Message Sender |
| Auto-liking |
100 likes per day (10 launches of 10 posts each) |
150 likes per day (10 launches of 15 posts each) |
400 likes per day (20 launches of 20 posts each) |
LinkedIn Auto Liker |
| Auto-commenting |
80 comments per day (10 comments per hour, with 8 launches per day) |
80 comments per day (10 comments per hour, with 8 launches per day) |
80 comments per day (10 comments per hour, with 8 launches per day) |
LinkedIn Auto Commenter |
| Messaging group members | 80 group members per week | 80 group members per week | 150 group members per week | LinkedIn Group Member Message Sender |
| Sending event invitations |
80 invites per day (8 launches of 10 invites each) |
120—140 invites per day (12—14 launches of 10 invites each) |
150 invitations per day (15 launches of 10 invites each) |
LinkedIn Event Inviter |
| Endorsing skills |
150 skill endorsements per day (10 profiles per launch, with 6 skills per profile, twice per day) |
150 skill endorsements per day (10 profiles per launch, with 6 skills per profile, twice per day) |
150 skill endorsements per day (10 profiles per launch, with 6 skills per profile, twice per day) |
LinkedIn Auto Endorser |
| Finding profile/company URLs | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
LinkedIn Company URL Finder LinkedIn Profile URL Finder |
|
Extracting account activity |
80 per day | 80 per day | 150 per day | LinkedIn Activity Extractor |
| Scraping company data | 80 companies per day | 80 companies per day | 150 companies per day | LinkedIn Company Scraper |
| Getting a list of post likers or commenters | 2,500 to 10,000 profiles per day | 2,500 to 10,000 profiles per day | 2,500 to 10,000 profiles per day |
LinkedIn Post Likers Export LinkedIn Post Commenters Export |
|
Exporting a list of group members |
1 group (or 2500 members) per day | 1 group (or 2500 members) per day | 1 group (or 2500 members) per day | LinkedIn Group Members Export |
The higher 1,500 profiles per day limit applies only to the LinkedIn Profile Scraper Phantom.
Do not apply this limit to the LinkedIn Profile Visitor or Sales Navigator Profile Scraper Phantoms, as both simulate real visits. Exceeding their smaller limits can quickly lead to LinkedIn warnings or account restrictions.
Instagram rate limits
Instagram has strict rate limits, especially for actions like following, liking, and commenting.
Here are some factors that will influence rate limits for Instagram:
- Instagram shows a different number of posts for each hashtag. The Phantom extracts everything visible.
- Due to a new limitation from Instagram, a maximum of 50 followers will be displayed for certain profiles.
- Remember that follower counts are not always correct. Certain profiles that are banned, deleted, or otherwise unavailable may still be counted in the follower count, but will not be scraped by the Phantom.
- Instagram doesn’t specifically mention how many actions you can take per day, but it might block your account if it detects suspicious activity. Even though the Phantoms can perform unlimited actions, we recommend you start slow and scale your automations.
| Action | Phantoms Impacted | Rate Limit |
| Auto-following | Instagram Followers Auto Follow |
1 profile per hour OR 40 profiles per hour |
| Auto-unfollowing | Instagram Auto Unfollow |
1 profile per hour |
| Auto-liking | Instagram Auto Liker |
12 posts per profile (1 like per hour, over 12 hours) |
| Auto-commenting |
Instagram Auto Commenter Instagram Hashtag Search to Post Engagement |
80 comments per day (10 per hour, over 8 launches per day) |
| Exporting followers | Instagram Follower Collector |
5000—9000 followers every 15 minutes (Up to 20 launches per day) |
|
Exporting profiles followed by someone |
Instagram Following Collector |
Unlimited* / Up to 50 followers for some accounts |
|
Extracting posts linked to a hashtag/location |
Instagram Hashtag Search Export | Varies per hashtag - extracts all visible posts |
|
Extracting posts linked to multiple hashtags/locations |
Instagram Multiple Hashtag Collector | Varies per hashtag - extracts all visible posts |
|
Exporting notifications (and the users behind them) |
Instagram Notification Extractor |
Subject to limits* |
|
Extracting profiles who liked a post |
Instagram Photo Likers |
Subject to limits* |
|
Extracting profiles who commented on a post |
Instagram Post Commenters Export | Subject to limits* |
| Scraping data from a post | Instagram Post Scraper |
Subject to limits* |
|
Exporting posts from a profile |
Instagram Profile Post Extractor |
Subject to limits* |
| Scraping data from a profile | Instagram Profile Scraper |
100 profiles per day (10 profiles per launch, 1 launch per hour) |
| Finding profile URLs | Instagram Profile URL Finder |
Subject to limits* |
| Auto-watching stories | Instagram Story Auto Watcher |
50 profiles per day (over 1 launch) |
| Exporting stories | Instagram Story Extractor |
Subject to limits* |
| Exporting story viewers | Instagram Story Viewers Export |
1000 latest viewers (for current stories only, over 1 launch) |
|
Extracting posts with a tagged profile |
Instagram Tagged Post Extractor | Less than 100 profiles in 24 hours |
Facebook rate limits
Facebook’s rate limits are less transparent, as multiple factors influence them. To stay within safe limits, start slowly and gradually increase your activity.
Facebook rate limits: Phantom automations
| Action | Phantoms Impacted | Rate Limit |
| Profile scraping |
Facebook Profile Scraper |
5 profiles per hour (1-2 launches per day) |
| Profile URL finding |
Facebook Profile URL Finder |
Unlimited |
| Exporting group members |
Facebook Group Members Export |
4000—5000 members per group (1-2 launches per day) |
Facebook manual actions and platform limits (outside of PhantomBuster)
Some Facebook limits apply to actions you perform manually, outside of PhantomBuster. These actions are still important to keep in mind, especially if your workflow involves interacting with people or groups directly on Facebook. Exceeding these limits can trigger warnings, restrictions, or even account flags.
Here are some common manual limits to be aware of:
- Sending messages: Varies; start slow and increase gradually to avoid flags.
- Recipients per message: Max 150 people in a single conversation.
- Joining groups: Up to 25 groups per day.
- Liking posts: Around 5 per hour, with a daily cap of 35.
- Sending friend requests: Max 499 per day.
- Accepting friend requests: Around 20 per day.
- Adding friends to groups: Max 50 invites per day.
- Inviting friends to like/follow pages: Max 200 total invites.
- Liking pages: Up to 5,000 pages total.
X/Twitter rate limits
Twitter’s limitations are fairly consistent, aside from the shift from 140 to 280 characters.
However, your account’s limits may vary based on how frequently you use Twitter/X and how many followers you have.
According to Twitter’s recommendation, this is a technical account limit only, and there are additional rules prohibiting aggressive following behavior (which are not public).
| Action | Phantoms Impacted | Rate Limit |
| Sending DMs | Twitter Message Sender |
50—80 per day (10 accounts per launch, 5-8 launches per day) |
| Tweeting | Twitter Auto Poster |
50—80 per day |
| Liking Tweets | Twitter Auto Liker |
Up to 1000 likes per day (Spread over multiple launches) |
| Following accounts | Twitter Auto Follow |
50—80 per day (10 profiles per launch, 5—8 launches per day) * |
| Unfollowing accounts | Twitter Auto Unfollow |
50-80 per day (combined with follows) |
|
Extracting an account’s followers |
Twitter Follower Collector |
70 followers per launch |
| Extracting profiles followed by an account | Twitter Following Collector |
Unlimited |
| Resharing a list of posts | Twitter Auto Retweeter |
50—80 posts per day (10 posts per launch, 5—8 launches per day) |
|
Extracting top posts linked with a hashtag |
Twitter Hashtag Search Export | 25 posts per launch |
|
Extracting media posted from a list of accounts |
Twitter Media Extractor | Unlimited |
| Extracting all the posts you’ve liked | Twitter Profile Likes Extractor | Unlimited |
| Scraping data from profiles | Twitter Profile Scraper |
60 profiles per day (10 profiles per launch, 6 launches per day) |
|
Finding profiles via a list of names and/or company names |
Twitter Profile URL Finder | Unlimited |
| Exporting search results | Twitter Search Export |
20 searches per launch (1—2 launches per day) |
| Exporting posts from a list of accounts | Twitter Tweet Extractor | Verified account: 10000 posts per day Unverified account: 5000 posts per day New verified account: 500 posts per day |
|
Extract accounts that liked a post |
Twitter Tweet Likers Export | No specified limits (but be sure to spread your actions across several launches) |
YouTube rate limits
YouTube applies fewer automation restrictions than other social networks. At the moment, only one Phantom, the YouTube Channel Video Extractor, is subject to a defined rate limit.
| Action | Phantoms Impacted | Rate Limit |
| Extracting videos from a YouTube channel | YouTube Channel Video Extractor | Up to 100 videos per launch |
For all other YouTube Phantoms, there are no daily rate limits. However, YouTube may still apply temporary restrictions if it detects unusual or high-frequency activity from the same account or IP address.
What to do if you exceed a rate limit
If you exceed your rate limits, you might see a warning or error message from the social network. If this happens, pause all your automations.
You may need to wait out a temporary penalty or log back in, but once that’s done, you can resume your activity at a safer pace.
Ignoring rate limits can lead to stricter consequences, so it’s best to act on the first warning.
For strategies to stay within safe ranges and avoid triggering restrictions, see Best Practices for Social Media Automation.
Go further
- For tips on warming up, spacing out actions, and avoiding spam flags, see Best Practices for Social Media Automation.
- For LinkedIn-specific safety guidance, including how LinkedIn evaluates account behavior and how to respond to restrictions, see How to Understand LinkedIn Account Safety, Limits, and Responsibility.
Frequently asked questions
Do rate limits apply to both manual and automated actions?
Yes. Platforms count all activity on your account toward the same limits, whether you perform actions manually or through PhantomBuster. If you’re also active manually on the same day a Phantom runs, both count toward your daily totals.
What happens if I run multiple Phantoms on the same account?
Each Phantom’s activity adds up. If you run three Phantoms on the same LinkedIn account, LinkedIn sees the combined total, not each Phantom individually. Divide the recommended limit by the number of Phantoms sharing that account.
Are these limits guaranteed safe thresholds?
No. The limits listed here are based on aggregated observations and community experience. Platforms can change enforcement at any time, and individual account tolerance varies based on age, history, and engagement quality. Treat these as starting guidelines, not guarantees.
What should I do if I get a rate limit warning?
Pause all automations on that account immediately. Wait for any temporary penalty to expire (usually a few hours to a few days), then resume at lower volumes. Ignoring warnings can lead to longer restrictions or account flags.
Do PhantomBuster’s email discovery features count toward LinkedIn rate limits?
Yes. If you use PhantomBuster’s email discovery service, each profile lookup opens two pages instead of one. This means you should process only half the recommended profile scraping limits when email discovery is enabled.