Switching guide: from LinkedIn to an alternative
Before leaving LinkedIn, or before shifting most of your activity elsewhere, it helps to know what you can actually carry. Some things export as files you can reuse. Some export as data that means little on another service. Some stay behind entirely. This guide reflects LinkedIn's export as described in 2026.
Included in LinkedIn's data download. You can paste it into a personal site, another network or a CV.
Transfers
Rewrite for the new audience rather than pasting it unchanged.
The export lists your connections. Email addresses appear only for people whose settings allow it, so many rows will have none.
Partly
The list moves. The relationship, and any way to message them without an address, does not.
Messages are included in the full archive, useful as a record of what was agreed and with whom.
Partly
You keep a record, but conversations cannot be continued on another service.
Your posts and articles appear in the archive, so you can republish the writing on a blog or newsletter.
Partly
Comments and reactions from others stay on LinkedIn.
The text of recommendations you received is included. Ask the writer before reusing their words elsewhere.
Partly
The link to the writer's profile, which lets readers check who wrote it, does not move.
Followers are not given to you as contacts, and endorsements only have meaning inside LinkedIn. Newsletter subscriber email addresses are not normally part of the standard export.
Stays
Before switching, invite your audience to follow you somewhere you control, such as a newsletter.
These are generally not exportable as files. Some plans sync to a CRM or applicant tracking system, and what syncs depends on the plan and contract.
Mostly stays
Check your contract and admin settings before the subscription ends.
Holds your profile text, posts and work samples under an address you own.
Stops: brings no audience on its own.
Hosts a newsletter and imports email lists you are entitled to use.
Stops: cannot import LinkedIn followers, and has no job features.
Lets you post publicly and later move your account, with followers, between providers or servers.
Stops: you rebuild your audience from scratch, and neither has job tools.
Offers a professional profile and jobs, mainly in German-speaking countries.
Stops: limited reach elsewhere, and no import of LinkedIn connections as relationships.
Stores the connection export so names and notes stay with you.
Stops: a list is not a network; people still need a reason to hear from you.
In LinkedIn's settings, the data privacy section offers a download of your data. You can choose a quick file with selected items or the larger full archive, which can take longer to prepare. Download it before closing an account, because closure removes access.
Whether switching makes sense depends on which of these items matter to you. If your value on LinkedIn is mostly your audience, more stays behind than if it is mostly your own writing.
Contacting exported connections: a connection export contains other people's personal data. Emailing them, or adding them to a mailing list, may need consent under laws such as GDPR, PECR, CAN-SPAM or CASL. This page is not legal advice. Check guidance from your data protection authority or speak to a qualified adviser.