Changes to the free compile timeout

June 16 2025

Today we’re announcing an upcoming change to the compile timeout limit for users on Overleaf’s free plan.

Why are we making changes?

We’re proud that Overleaf has become the go-to LaTeX collaboration tool for millions of people around the world. However, storing and compiling these projects comes at a cost, and fewer than 5% of our active users currently pay for Overleaf. This imbalance makes it difficult for Overleaf, and the wider Digital Science ecosystem of which it is a part, to invest in the tools and infrastructure we need to support sustainable, long-term growth.

What is changing?

To help address this, we are reducing the free compile timeout limit to 10 seconds. We made a similar adjustment in 2023, and this change is aimed at ensuring that those who use Overleaf most regularly and for more resource-intensive projects contribute to covering the cost of the service.

Even with this lower limit, most free users will not be affected — in fact, 80% will not hit a timeout at all in a typical month. However, those working with larger or slower-compiling projects may need to either adjust their projects to fit within the new timeout or consider upgrading to one of our premium plans, which come with longer timeouts and faster servers.

When will the change happen?

We’re rolling out these changes gradually, so you may not see them right away. We will start enforcing the new limit for free compiles on 16 July 2025. Until then, you may see a warning message if your free compile takes more than 10s.

We’ve chosen this timing to coincide with a quieter period in our global usage, and we’re providing early notice to give you time to prepare.

Need help or more time to compile?

We provide detailed guidance on how you can make your project compile faster and avoid hitting timeouts in our documentation.

Users on our premium plans will continue to benefit from:

• a longer 4-minute compile timeout,
• a dedicated pool of fastest available servers, and
• tracked changes, more collaborators, integrations with reference managers, Git access, and much more.

Thank you for being part of the Overleaf and Digital Science community. We’re committed to supporting your work, and we’re always looking for your input on our products, so if you have feedback, do let us know.

Sincerely,

The Overleaf Team