XING Tools Worth Using

For your own contacts, the LinkedIn extension is the simplest free tool

XING Transfer to LinkedIn adds a magnifier icon to each contact in the German-language 'Dein Netzwerk' view. Click it and LinkedIn opens a search for that person. It does not export in bulk, so each contact takes one click. That suits a network of a few dozen people you want to find on LinkedIn. ^[1]

The listing is small and old: about 1,000 users, five ratings averaging 3.2 of 5, and an update on 18 November 2023 (version 1.3.1). It says it has no connection to XING or New Work SE, the company that runs XING, so it is a third-party helper. Check each LinkedIn match yourself, because the tool only opens a search. ^[1]

XingExport makes a local copy, but it logs into XING for you

XingExport is a Python script that drives a Firefox window with Selenium. You log in yourself, and it writes your contacts to an Excel file called XingNetwork.xlsx. It is free under the MIT licence, with no paid tier. You need Python and geckodriver installed, and the output is .xlsx, not CSV. ^[2]

The README says nothing about XING's terms, so read them before you export. Skip this tool if you only need a few names, since the search extension above is faster. Use the export when you want a full local backup of your own contacts, and keep that file private. ^[2]

The job-search MCP server reads public listings, and that carries terms risk

xing-mcp lets an AI assistant search XING job listings and read job and company details through the Model Context Protocol. It is free under the MIT licence. It reads XING's public job-search pages without a login, so it misses the listings XING shows only to members. According to its README, that is roughly a quarter to a third of listings. ^[3]

The README also says XING has no official API, that XING's terms of service restrict automated collection, and that the scraper breaks when XING changes its HTML. It has no remote-work or seniority filters. Use it only if you are a developer who accepts that risk and you want job search inside an AI assistant you already run. Otherwise skip it. ^[3]

The application bot can send applications, so keep it in dry-run mode

xing_easy_apply_bot collects listings from URLs you set, saves them to CSV without duplicates, scores them against a relevance threshold, and can submit applications. Its apply step is dry-run by default. A real send needs two flags, --no-dry-run and --confirm-send. It is licensed PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0, so commercial use needs the author's written permission. ^[4]

Credentials sit in a local .env file or in a session file that holds your cookies. A captcha or two-factor prompt stops the run, and you must finish it by hand. Use the collection and scoring to build a shortlist. Do not add the send flags until you have read XING's terms, because the README does not mention them, and a bot sends a weak match as fast as a strong one. ^[4]

Skip any tool that collects other members' data

Skip any tool that pulls other members' profiles or employee lists, or that guesses email addresses from names, whatever it costs. Those tools serve recruiting lead lists and company profiling. They do not help with your own job search, and the data they collect belongs to other people. Your own XING profile is the one place where your data is at stake, so limit what you share with third-party apps.