Troubleshooting: Project Creation Limits on CircleCI's Free Plan

Problem

CircleCI's Free Plan lets you have up to 10 projects. If you see an error like "Cannot create more projects" or "Project limit reached," you probably hit this limit. This happens when you try to add a new project.

This limit is for people using CircleCI's GitHub App. CircleCI gives you lots of free features on the Free Plan. You get 30,000 credits each month and access to many tools at no cost.

Solutions

Solution 1: Check How Many Projects You Have

First, see how many projects you currently have:

Log into CircleCI
Go to your main page
Click Projects on the left side
Count your projects

If you see 10 projects, you reached the limit.

Solution 2: Upgrade Your Plan

The easiest way to fix this is to upgrade to the Performance Plan. This plan has no project limits:

In CircleCI, go to Plan > Plan Overview
Click Upgrade to Performance Plan
Pick your credit package (starts with 30,000 credits per month and 5 users)
Add your payment info

What you get with Performance Plan:

No limit on projects
Better computer power for your builds
Faster support when you need help
Credits refill automatically so your builds don't stop

Solution 3: Delete Projects You Don't Use

If you have old projects you don't need anymore, you can now delete them yourself:

Go to Projects in CircleCI
Find the project you want to delete
Click the three dots (⋯) next to the project name
Select Project Settings
Scroll to the bottom and click Delete Project
Confirm the deletion

Note: Deleting a project is permanent and cannot be undone. Ensure you don't need the project's build history before deleting it.

Once deleted, the project slot becomes available immediately, and you can add a new project.

Solution 4: Make a New Organization

You can create up to 3 organizations on the Free Plan:

Click your organization name in CircleCI
Pick Create New Organization
Give it a different name
This gives you 10 more project slots

Warning: This can make things confusing. It's better to upgrade your plan instead.

Outcome

After you upgrade to the Performance Plan, you can create as many projects as you want right away. You'll start paying about $15 per month for the basic plan.

If you upgraded but still see the error:

Check that your payment went through
Make sure your billing info is correct
Check that you're in the right CircleCI organization

The upgrade usually works within a few minutes after you pay.

Additional Notes

The 10-project limit only happens with GitHub App connections
Open source projects get extra free credits (up to 400,000 per month for Linux builds)
If you have a big open source project, contact CircleCI support for more free options

Additional Resources