GitLab capped free private groups at 5 users
GitLab.com Free limited private top-level groups to 5 users, applied to groups created from 2022-12-28 and rolled out gradually to older ones.
What changed
- Free tier cut, Dec 28, 2022
- Before: No user limit on private Free groups
- After: 5 users per private top-level group
- Existing customers: Older Free namespaces got at least 60 days' in-app notice; enforcement for all remaining private Free namespaces began August 15, 2026.
Cheaper alternatives to GitLab
At a 10-developer team, GitLab costs $290/mo. 2 code hosting & CI tools cost less:
- GitHub: $40/mo (Team), covers 82% of GitLab; missing or partial: Self-managed edition (partly), Self-hosting & open source (partly), Inline code completion, VS Code and JetBrains extensions, Deployment management (partly)
- Bitbucket: $80/mo (Premium), covers 59% of GitLab; missing or partial: Pull request code review (partly), Code security scanning (partly), Self-managed edition (partly), AI pull request review (partly), Self-hosted runners (partly)
GitLab alternatives: 2 code hosting & CI tools compared, at every size.
Sources
Every price and change for GitLab: GitLab.