--- title: Rate limits on GitLab.com are changing | daily.dev description: Starting October 19, 2026, GitLab.com will apply rate limits based on subscription tier: Free and unauthenticated traffic first, then Premium and Ultimate in... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/rate-limits-on-gitlab-com-are-changing-4hkr8zi7w twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Rate limits on GitLab.com are changing | daily.dev og:description: Starting October 19, 2026, GitLab.com will apply rate limits based on subscription tier: Free and unauthenticated traffic first, then Premium and Ultimate in... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/rate-limits-on-gitlab-com-are-changing-4hkr8zi7w og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/4hkR8Zi7W.png og:image:alt: Rate limits on GitLab.com are changing og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Rate limits on GitLab.com are changing **[GitLab](https://daily.dev/sources/gitlab)** · 8 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Starting October 19, 2026, GitLab.com will apply rate limits based on subscription tier: Free and unauthenticated traffic first, then Premium and Ultimate in January 2027. Unauthenticated requests are capped at 60 requests per hour per IP, while authenticated requests get much higher, plan-specific limits applied per user and per top-level group. Two preview 'brownout' windows on October 7 and October 14 (15:00-19:00 UTC) let Free and unauthenticated users test the new limits early. Exceeding a limit returns HTTP 429 with Retry-After and RateLimit-* headers. GitLab recommends authenticating requests via personal access token, OAuth, or CI/CD job token, plus batching, caching, and pagination to stay under limits. Self-Managed and Dedicated instances are unaffected; a paid capacity add-on above plan limits is planned for later release. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### When do the new GitLab.com rate limits take effect for free and unauthenticated users? They take effect on October 19, 2026. Free accounts and unauthenticated requests are affected first on that date, while Premium and Ultimate subscription limits change later, in January 2027. Two preview 'brownout' windows occur before the change, on October 7 and October 14, from 15:00 to 19:00 UTC, letting Free and unauthenticated traffic test behavior under the new limits. _Teams timing API integration changes around this rollout can track GitLab updates like this on daily.dev._ ### What is the rate limit for unauthenticated requests to the GitLab.com API? Unauthenticated requests are capped at 60 requests per hour per IP address, regardless of whether the traffic originates from a paid account. Authenticating with a personal access token, OAuth token, or CI/CD job token moves a request onto the much higher subscription-tier limit instead of this anonymous allowance. _Developers debugging API throttling issues can follow practical fixes like this via daily.dev._ ### What should I do if my GitLab.com API client hits a 429 rate limit error? Read the Retry-After header returned with the HTTP 429 response and wait that interval before retrying, ideally backing off exponentially rather than retrying immediately. Longer term, authenticate requests to move off the 60-requests-per-hour anonymous limit, and reduce call volume through batching, caching, and pagination instead of tight polling loops. _Anyone tuning API clients against provider rate limits can find guidance like this through daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [GitLab 18.11: Budget guardrails for GitLab Credits](https://daily.dev/posts/gitlab-18-11-budget-guardrails-for-gitlab-credits-dtn7kgt6u) · GitLab · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Rate Limiting Your SaaS API: A 2026 Developer Guide](https://daily.dev/posts/rate-limiting-your-saas-api-a-2026-developer-guide-mozn1rshe) · Alex CloudStar · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#cicd](https://daily.dev/tags/cicd), [#gitlab](https://daily.dev/tags/gitlab) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/rate-limits-on-gitlab-com-are-changing-4hkr8zi7w) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Rate limits on GitLab.com are changing","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/rate-limits-on-gitlab-com-are-changing-4hkr8zi7w","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/rate-limits-on-gitlab-com-are-changing-4hkr8zi7w"},"datePublished":"2026-09-17T13:11:14.892Z","dateModified":"2026-09-18T17:52:41.226Z","description":"Starting October 19, 2026, GitLab.com will apply rate limits based on subscription tier: Free and unauthenticated traffic first, then Premium and Ultimate in...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/00f767f4f4cbf6ee0525ef0e8de91950?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/00f767f4f4cbf6ee0525ef0e8de91950?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"GitLab","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"GitLab","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/3720ce340ca4435daef529abbf361b69","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/gitlab"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/rate-limits-on-gitlab-com-are-changing-4hkr8zi7w","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"cicd,gitlab","timeRequired":"PT8M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"GitLab","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/gitlab"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Rate limits on GitLab.com are changing"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/rate-limits-on-gitlab-com-are-changing-4hkr8zi7w#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"When do the new GitLab.com rate limits take effect for free and unauthenticated users?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"They take effect on October 19, 2026. 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