Maven Central Publishing Limits⚓︎
What's Changing?⚓︎
Maven Central is introducing publishing usage visibility and limits for high-volume publishing activity. These changes are focused on publishing patterns that operate at commercial or infrastructure scale: unusually large artifacts, high file counts, very high release frequency, or repeated high-volume publishing across an organization's namespaces.
Maven Central is critical infrastructure for the Java ecosystem: a shared place where open source projects publish release-ready components and millions of developers reliably consume them. That role is not changing. Maven Central remains free for ordinary community open source publishing within the free limits.
But publishing demand is no longer evenly distributed. Maven Central now supports both ordinary open source releases and high-scale publishing patterns from commercial platforms, automated pipelines, SDKs, generated clients, agents, integrations, and other software delivery systems. Those patterns create a different kind of demand on shared infrastructure.
Publishing size, file count, and release frequency are useful signals for distinguishing these use cases. They are not perfect measures of intent, and they are not meant to punish legitimate open source activity. They help distinguish community-scale publishing from commercial-scale or infrastructure-driven use, so Maven Central can remain free for most publishers while giving higher-volume organizations a clear paid path through Maven Central Publisher Pro.
Publishing usage is now available in Maven Central through the Usage Center. Hard enforcement is scheduled to begin on August 11, 2026. Starting then, publishers that exceed the free limits will have publishing activity capped until usage resets, usage is reduced, an exemption is approved, or a paid option is in place.
Why is Sonatype Making This Change?⚓︎
This change is part of a broader industry effort to keep public package infrastructure reliable, secure, and open for the long term. Across ecosystems, registries are facing the same pressures: rising automation, CI/CD, security scanning, machine-driven software supply chains, and commercial platforms using public registries as production infrastructure.
For more context on this broader effort, see:
- Open Infrastructure Is Not Free: A Joint Statement on Sustainable Stewardship
- Open Infrastructure Is Not Free, Part II: The Hidden Cost of Running Package Registries
- Open Is Not Costless: Reclaiming Sustainable Infrastructure
- Maven Central and the Tragedy of the Commons
- Beyond IPs: Addressing Organizational Overconsumption in Maven Central
Maven Central is part of that same shift. It serves millions of developers and over 1.5 trillion downloads annually, but the operational demand is not distributed evenly. A relatively small group of very high-volume users and publishers creates a disproportionate share of the load through commercial-scale consumption and publishing patterns.
On the publishing side, the data shows the same concentration:
- In the past 90 days, 10% of namespaces accounted for:
- more than 88% of all files published to Maven Central
- more than 90% of total storage consumed by new releases
- over 70% of all new release events
What Stays the Same?⚓︎
Maven Central's core purpose is not changing. It remains a public distribution platform for release-ready community open source software in the Java ecosystem.
For most publishers:
- Existing publishing workflows remain unchanged.
- Public artifacts already published to Maven Central remain available for download.
- Community open source projects should generally be unaffected by these limits. Projects with unusual publishing patterns can request an exemption for review.
- Developers and consumers can continue to rely on Maven Central as the default source for public Java components.
The new limits are focused on high-volume publishing patterns that operate at commercial or infrastructure scale. They are not intended to disrupt ordinary community open source publishing.
What Are the Maven Central Publishing Limits?⚓︎
Maven Central tracks three monthly publishing metrics. Limits are evaluated per organization, and an organization may include one or more namespaces.
These limits were derived by looking at publishing behavior across Maven Central and identifying where usage moves from ordinary community-scale publishing into the highest-volume publishing patterns. The current thresholds are focused on approximately the top 15% of publishing activity, based on the shape of the usage curves for file count, release size, and release count.
The charts below show where the free publishing thresholds sit relative to actual publishing behavior across Maven Central. They are intended to provide context for why these limits focus on unusually high-volume publishing, not ordinary community open source release activity.
These thresholds may adapt after the soft-limit phase as we better understand the real-world impact on publishers. The goal is to distinguish community-scale publishing from commercial-scale or infrastructure-driven use without disrupting ordinary community open source publishing.
Note
If you notice discrepancies in how your namespaces are organized, contact central-support@sonatype.com.
| Metric | Monthly Limit for Free Users | Calculation Details |
|---|---|---|
| File Count | 300 files | The total number of files published across all releases during the monthly period. Each artifact file, such as a JAR, POM, source JAR, signature, checksum, or related file, counts toward this total. |
| Release Size | 15 MB | The total size of all files published during the monthly period, measured in bytes. This includes all artifacts and associated files uploaded as part of your releases. |
| Release Count | 3 releases | The total number of release events recorded during the monthly period. A release event is a distinct publish operation to Maven Central. |
Most community open source projects are expected to remain within the free limits and will not need to make changes.
Maven Central Publishing Limits Timeline⚓︎
Publishing limits are being introduced in phases so affected publishers have time to review their usage and adjust before enforcement begins.
| Phase | Date | What Happens |
|---|---|---|
| Soft Limits | June 16, 2026 | Usage visibility and notifications are available. Publishers may see warnings when approaching or exceeding limits, including 75% and 90% thresholds. Publishing continues without interruption. Use this phase to review your usage and adjust publishing patterns. |
| Hard Limits | August 11, 2026 | Publishing activity is capped when limits are exceeded. To continue publishing, organizations must wait for usage to reset, reduce usage, receive an approved exemption, or move to Maven Central Publisher Pro. |
During the soft-limit phase, notifications are informational only. They do not block, throttle, or prevent publishing.
How to Monitor Usage⚓︎
The Usage Center is the source of truth for your organization's publishing activity, displaying organization-level metrics aggregated across all namespaces, including:
- Release size
- File count
- Release count
Usage cards show whether your organization is within limits, approaching limits, or at critical levels. Warnings begin at 75% of a limit, with critical warnings at 90% or higher.
You can also view namespace-level metrics in a detailed table. Data visibility depends on your access permissions within the organization. Usage data can be exported as CSV for further analysis.
The View Trends option shows usage trends over the last three months, helping publishers understand whether current publishing patterns are occasional, seasonal, or part of a sustained high-volume pattern.
What Should I Do Next?⚓︎
If your organization is within the free limits, no action is required.
If your organization is approaching or exceeding the free limits, the next step depends on why that is happening:
- If some publishing volume is avoidable, review whether you can reduce or consolidate publishing activity.
- If you are a community open source project with unusual publishing patterns, you may request an exemption for review.
- If your organization regularly publishes at commercial or infrastructure scale, Maven Central Publisher Pro may be the right path.
The sections below provide more detail on each option.
Reducing Publishing Usage⚓︎
If your organization is approaching or exceeding the free limits, start by reviewing whether all of your Maven Central publishing activity represents public, release-ready software that needs to be distributed through Central.
Maven Central should not be the default destination for every output produced by an automated software delivery pipeline. If your organization publishes large numbers of generated clients, SDK variants, agents, integrations, platform-specific packages, or frequent automated releases, review whether all of that output needs to be published publicly through Maven Central at the current frequency.
In some cases, reducing usage may mean consolidating release activity, publishing fewer generated variants, reducing release frequency, or changing which artifacts are distributed through Maven Central. In other cases, the publishing pattern may be appropriate for your business, but simply too large for the free limits. In that case, Maven Central Publisher Pro provides a paid path for higher-volume publishing.
Exemptions for Community Open Source Projects⚓︎
Some legitimate community open source projects may have unusual publishing patterns. Exemptions are available for qualifying community open source projects and are reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
If you believe your community open source project qualifies for an exemption, contact central-support@sonatype.com and include:
- Namespace
- Organization
- Description of the project
- Explanation of the publishing pattern
- Reason an exemption is needed
The Product team reviews exemption requests on a case-by-case basis.
Maven Central Publisher Pro⚓︎
For organizations whose publishing activity regularly exceeds the free limits, Maven Central Publisher Pro provides increased publishing capacity and direct access to Sonatype support.
Maven Central Publisher Pro is intended for organizations publishing at commercial or infrastructure scale: large SDKs, generated clients, agents, integrations, platform components, or other high-volume release streams distributed through Maven Central.
This is not required for most community open source publishers. Most publishers are expected to remain within the free limits and can continue publishing at no cost. Publisher Pro provides a paid path for organizations whose publishing patterns depend on Maven Central as part of a larger commercial software delivery model.
Learn more about Maven Central Publisher Pro and evaluate whether it is the right option for your organization.
Still Need Help?⚓︎
If you are unsure whether your organization is affected, start with the Usage Center in Maven Central. It shows your organization's publishing activity across release size, file count, and release count.
If your usage appears incorrect, your namespaces are not organized as expected, or you believe your community open source project may need an exemption, contact central-support@sonatype.com with the relevant namespace, organization, and a description of the issue.
For questions about higher-volume publishing capacity, Maven Central Publisher Pro, or commercial-scale publishing needs, contact Sonatype to discuss the right path for your organization.