If you are seeing this error in AWS Amplify, you are probably as confused as I was:
Build failed. Failed to create app.
You have reached the maximum number of apps in this account.
Here is the short version: your account has a hidden app limit that is lower than the one shown in the console, and you can remove it with a quota increase request that gets approved automatically. Let me explain.
What happened
I had 5 apps in my Amplify account and wanted to create a sixth one, a self-hosted umami instance for analytics. That deployment had its own adventures, which I wrote about in another post.
The console let me go through the entire creation wizard. I chose the source provider, connected the repository and branch, and configured the environment variables. Only when the first build started did it fail with the error above.
The confusing part
My first stop was the Service Quotas console. It shows the AWS Amplify quotas for the account, and the "Apps" row said:
- Applied account-level quota value: 25
- AWS default quota value: 25
- Utilization: Not available
So my limit is 25, I have 5 apps, and I cannot create the sixth. Nothing on that page explains why.
The real cause
It turns out AWS applies a hidden, lower app limit to newer or low-usage accounts. It is a fraud prevention measure. The number is not published, it does not appear in Service Quotas, and the error message does not mention it. You only discover it by hitting the wall.
I am not the only one who ran into this. There are multiple reports on AWS re:Post, a thread about new account limitations, and a GitHub issue on the amplify-hosting repo with people hitting the same invisible limit.
The fix
Request a quota increase, even if the console claims you are far below the limit:
- Open the Service Quotas console and go to AWS services > AWS Amplify.
- Click the Apps quota name.
- Choose Request increase at account level.
- Enter a number and submit. I requested 26.
My request was approved automatically within minutes. No human review, no support ticket, no questions. After that, creating the new app worked immediately.
The takeaway
If the increase can be approved by automation in minutes, the limit was never protecting much. One sentence in the error message would have saved me an evening: "Request a quota increase to create more apps." Until AWS adds that sentence, this post will have to do.