diff --git a/app/models/user.rb b/app/models/user.rb
index 5d19d873f431ec3fd7adac9aec8c6a91207863c5..1c2821bb91a1b397eae7f367adfe63a38d6539e3 100644
--- a/app/models/user.rb
+++ b/app/models/user.rb
@@ -115,7 +115,9 @@ class User < ActiveRecord::Base
   validates :notification_email, email: true, if: ->(user) { user.notification_email != user.email }
   validates :public_email, presence: true, uniqueness: true, email: true, allow_blank: true
   validates :bio, length: { maximum: 255 }, allow_blank: true
-  validates :projects_limit, presence: true, numericality: { greater_than_or_equal_to: 0 }
+  validates :projects_limit,
+    presence: true,
+    numericality: { greater_than_or_equal_to: 0, less_than_or_equal_to: Gitlab::Database::MAX_INT_VALUE }
   validates :username,
     namespace: true,
     presence: true,
diff --git a/app/views/admin/users/_access_levels.html.haml b/app/views/admin/users/_access_levels.html.haml
index 7855239dfe5d86dbf6c3af03f3895991188d9679..794aaec89bd91bb5a99579d316f7776be64a31e3 100644
--- a/app/views/admin/users/_access_levels.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/admin/users/_access_levels.html.haml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
   %legend Access
   .form-group
     = f.label :projects_limit, class: 'control-label'
-    .col-sm-10= f.number_field :projects_limit, min: 0, class: 'form-control'
+    .col-sm-10= f.number_field :projects_limit, min: 0, max: Gitlab::Database::MAX_INT_VALUE, class: 'form-control'
 
   .form-group
     = f.label :can_create_group, class: 'control-label'
diff --git a/changelogs/unreleased/29116-maxint-error.yml b/changelogs/unreleased/29116-maxint-error.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..06e976617d520f388da218f3cbb932cffb44247e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/unreleased/29116-maxint-error.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+---
+title: Fix projects_limit RangeError on user create
+merge_request:
+author: Alexander Randa
diff --git a/spec/models/user_spec.rb b/spec/models/user_spec.rb
index 90378179e328ddfff7161fa7cf996754b8fe08f8..570abd44dc6c18058c40a4df45318fe99625e0c7 100644
--- a/spec/models/user_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/user_spec.rb
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ describe User, models: true do
     it { is_expected.to validate_numericality_of(:projects_limit) }
     it { is_expected.to allow_value(0).for(:projects_limit) }
     it { is_expected.not_to allow_value(-1).for(:projects_limit) }
+    it { is_expected.not_to allow_value(Gitlab::Database::MAX_INT_VALUE + 1).for(:projects_limit) }
 
     it { is_expected.to validate_length_of(:bio).is_at_most(255) }