Blog News Upcoming changes to user limits on Free tier of GitLab SaaS
March 24, 2022
4 min read

Upcoming changes to user limits on Free tier of GitLab SaaS

5 user limit per top-level group on GitLab SaaS Free tier

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2022-11-17 UPDATE: User limits will be rolled out gradually, impacted users will be notified in-app at least 60 days prior to the user limits being applied to their top-level group. User limits do not apply to top-level groups with public visibility. If you're running an Open Source project, please also consider the GitLab for Open Source program which can provide more CI/CD minutes as well as additional storage.

What you need to know:

  • Top-level private groups on the Free tier of GitLab SaaS created on/after 2022-12-28 are subject to the application of user limits. For top-level private groups on the Free tier of GitLab SaaS created before 2022-12-28 we will show in-app notifications for user limits to affected top-level private groups, including any subgroups and projects, prior to the limits being applied. Top-level private groups that are already above the limit will see the in-app notifications at least 60 days ahead of the limits being applied. Top-level private groups that go above the limit during the period when the in-app notifications are showing will see them as soon as they go above the threshold. Note personal namespaces are public and therefore excluded from user limit notification and enforcement.
  • These changes above do not apply to our other plans: Paid SaaS and self-managed subscriptions, Free tier self-managed users, and Community Programs, including GitLab for Education, GitLab for Startups, and GitLab for Open Source.

We continue to look for ways to make DevOps a reality for teams and organizations of all sizes. For users to get started with DevOps, learn GitLab, and develop personal and small projects from idea to production with minimal or no investment, GitLab offers the Free tier. For larger projects with many users or requiring support, GitLab offers Premium and Ultimate paid tiers. For open source projects, startups, and educational usage, GitLab offers a set of community programs tailored to each specific use case.

To increase efficiency, and ensure we can continue to offer the Free tier to small teams, we are limiting the number of users per top-level group with private visibility on the Free tier to 5 users. We will monitor how top-level groups with public visibility are using private projects to identify whether any limits on such projects are needed. These changes:

  • impact fewer than 2% of Free tier users within 0.3% of top-level groups
  • do not apply to paid SaaS and self-managed subscriptions, free tier self-managed users, members of our community programs - including GitLab for Open Source, Education, and Startups users, and top-level groups with public visibility.

Next Steps

Organizations and users impacted by this change should consider upgrading to a supported paid tier or switching to the self-managed deployment option which does not have this limit. GitLab Premium and Ultimate include features that are essential for growing teams and large scale projects, such as priority support, advanced CI/CD, advanced permission management, security, and compliance. These features enable businesses to ship faster without sacrificing quality. Start a free trial to learn more about the benefits of these two tiers.

Free tier users using GitLab for open source projects should consider applying to the GitLab for Open Source program to benefit from GitLab Ultimate.

Timeline

The new user limit on the Free tier of GitLab SaaS will be effective on new and existing Free tier SaaS top-level groups with private visibility starting 2022-10-19. If you need more time to decide, consider starting a free 30 day trial at any time.

More information

Please refer to the FAQ for more information on these changes.

Free tier users can create a thread with their questions/concerns on the space created in the GitLab Community Forum, which is actively monitored by GitLab team members and product managers involved with this change.

We want to hear from you

Enjoyed reading this blog post or have questions or feedback? Share your thoughts by creating a new topic in the GitLab community forum. Share your feedback

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