Iako se navodi da je cilj racionalizacija troškova i održivost, ipak je svojevrstan udarac na zajednicu koji će naškoditi GitLab-ovoj reputaciji i stvoriti nepoverenje. A pošto jedan commit može da „spase” nalog koji je npr. korišćen u svrhe arhiviranja, nije jasno ni koju korist će na kraju imati u ostvarenju proklamovanog smanjenja troškova.

GitLab plans to automatically delete projects if they've been inactive for a year and are owned by users of its free tier.

...People with knowledge of the situation, who requested anonymity as they are not authorized to discuss it with the media, told The Register the policy is scheduled to come into force in September 2022.

GitLab is aware of the potential for angry opposition to the plan, and will therefore give users weeks or months of warning before deleting their work. A single comment, commit, or new issue posted to a project during a 12-month period will be sufficient to keep the project alive.