doc/user/free_user_limit.md
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If you're on the Free tier, the following user and group limits apply.
You can add up to five users to newly created top-level namespaces with private visibility on GitLab.com.
If the namespace was created before December 28, 2022, this user limit was applied on June 13, 2023.
Top-level private namespaces with more than five users are placed in a read-only state. These namespaces cannot write new data to any of the following:
For the full list of restricted actions, see read-only namespaces.
User limits do not apply to users in the Free tier of:
For more information, you can talk to an expert.
Accounts created after January 27, 2026 on the Free tier are limited to three top-level groups (group namespaces). Your personal namespace does not count toward this limit. This limit also applies to accounts that are on an Ultimate trial.
To create more groups, upgrade to a paid tier.
Every unique user of a top-level namespace with private visibility counts towards the five-user limit. This includes every user of a group, subgroup, and project within a namespace.
For example, there are two groups, example-1 and example-2.
The example-1 group has:
A.subgroup-1 with one member, B.
subgroup-1 inherits A as a member from example-1.subgroup-1 called project-1 with two members, C and D.
project-1 inherits A and B as members from subgroup-1.The namespace example-1 has four unique members: A, B, C, and D, so
does not exceed the five-user limit.
The example-2 group has:
A.subgroup-2 with one member, B.
subgroup-2 inherits A as a member from example-2.subgroup-2 called project-2a with two members, C and D.
project-2a inherits A and B as members from subgroup-2.subgroup-2 called project-2b with two members, E and F.
project-2b inherits A and B as members from subgroup-2.The namespace example-2 has six unique members: A, B, C, D, E, and F,
so it exceeds the five-user limit.
To help manage your Free user limit, you can view and manage the total number of members across all projects and groups in your namespace.
Prerequisites:
On this page, you can view and manage all members in your namespace. For example, to remove a member, select Remove user.
If you have multiple groups in your organization, they might have a combination of paid (Premium or Ultimate tier) and Free tier subscriptions. When a group with a Free tier subscription exceeds the user limit, their namespace becomes read-only.
To remove user limits on groups with Free tier subscriptions, include those groups in your organization's subscription:
To check if a group is included in the subscription, view that group's subscription details.
If the group has a Free tier subscription, it is not included in your organization's subscription.
To include a group in your paid Premium or Ultimate tier subscription, transfer that group to your organization's top-level namespace.
If the five-user limit has been applied to your group even though you have a paid subscription in the Premium or Ultimate tier, make sure that your subscription is linked to either of the following:
When you transfer a group to your organization's subscription, this might increase your seat count. This could incur additional costs for your subscription.
For example, your company has Group A and Group B:
Users that are not part of the top-level namespace require additional seats to remain active. For more information, see buy seats for your subscription.
On the Free subscription tier on GitLab.com, you cannot increase the limit of five users on top-level groups with private visibility.
For larger teams, you should upgrade to the paid Premium or Ultimate tiers. These tiers do not limit users and have more features to increase team productivity. For more information, see Upgrade your subscription tier on GitLab Self-Managed.
To try the paid tiers before deciding to upgrade, start a free trial for GitLab Ultimate.
Personal projects are not located in top-level group namespaces. You can manage the users in each of your personal projects. You can have more than five users in your personal projects.
You should move your personal project to a group so that you can: