Docker Hub rate-limiting impacts GitLab pipelines

Description

Docker Hub starts to limit, unauthenticated `docker pull` requests to 10 per hour. This has likely negative impacts on:

1. Most CI/CD pipelines that don't use Dependency Proxy, as those pull from Docker Hub as unauthenticated users
2. Dependency Proxy configurations, that do not yet authenticate with Docker Hub.

Environment

Impacted offerings:

• self-hosted GitLab runners
• GitLab-hosted runners espacially, because multiple different customers might share the same IP address or subnet, making them collectively subject to this limit.

Solution

Four options are available. Please find details in our blog post.

1. Configure Docker Hub authentication in your pipelines
2. Use the GitLab Container Registry
3. Use GitLab Dependency Proxy and authenticate with Docker Hub
4. Consider a paid Docker subscription if you require more than 100 pulls per hour.

Cause

Docker Inc. announced the effective date for those limits to be 2025-04-01.

Related Links

• Docker docs about limits and fair use