trying to add a new staff member to our board and it says max members

[Natalie Patterson]

it's saying we have max members but I've deleted 2 people to make space.. and also says unable to add- contact admin, but I am the admin! 

[Caity]

The collaborator limit applies to the entire Workspace, which can contain multiple boards. So, while there may be fewer than 10 members on the board that you're a member of within that Workspace, there may still be more boards in the Workspace with more members. If that's the case, the Workspace admin will need to either remove collaborators or upgrade the Workspace.

[Liam Do - DevSamurai]

Hi @Natalie Patterson,

The Trello Free plan has a 10-collaborator limit per Workspace. This counts more than just the people actively using your boards. Here's what to check:

1. Check your total Workspace members and guests

Go to your Workspace → Members. The limit includes all Workspace members plus any multi-board guests and single-board guests across all boards. Even if you removed 2 people from one board, they might still be guests on another board in the same Workspace and still count toward the limit.

You can learn more about how board guests work: What is a Workspace guest?

2. Check pending invitations

Pending invitations that haven't been accepted yet still count toward your member limit. Go to Workspace → Members and look for any Pending invitations. If there are old invites that were never accepted, revoke them to free up spots.

3. Allow time for removal to take effect

In some cases, member removal may not be reflected immediately. If you've just removed someone and still see the limit error, wait a few minutes and try again.

Once you've cleaned up any leftover guests and pending invitations, you should be able to add your new staff member.

Hope it helps 🙌
Liam