diff --git a/docs/integrations/gitlab/org.md b/docs/integrations/gitlab/org.md
index 1d9da336ce..5fa2e229eb 100644
--- a/docs/integrations/gitlab/org.md
+++ b/docs/integrations/gitlab/org.md
@@ -242,7 +242,7 @@ catalog:
         orgEnabled: true
         group: org/teams # Required for gitlab.com when `orgEnabled: true`. Optional for self managed. Must not end with slash. Accepts only groups under the provided path (which will be stripped)
         restrictUsersToGroup: true # Optional: Backstage will ingest only users directly assigned to org/teams.
-        includeUsersWithoutSeat: true # Optional: Include users without paid seat, only valid for SaaS
+        includeUsersWithoutSeat: false # Optional: Set to true to include users without paid seat, only applicable for SaaS
 ```
 
 ### Limiting `User` and `Group` entity ingestion in the provider
diff --git a/plugins/catalog-backend-module-gitlab/src/lib/client.ts b/plugins/catalog-backend-module-gitlab/src/lib/client.ts
index 6ff39fc708..f2ce3d18f8 100644
--- a/plugins/catalog-backend-module-gitlab/src/lib/client.ts
+++ b/plugins/catalog-backend-module-gitlab/src/lib/client.ts
@@ -139,6 +139,8 @@ export class GitLabClient {
     options?: CommonListOptions,
     includeUsersWithoutSeat?: boolean,
   ): Promise<PagedResponse<GitLabUser>> {
+    const botFilterRegex = /^(?:project|group)_(\w+)_bot_(\w+)$/;
+
     return this.listGroupMembers(groupPath, {
       ...options,
       active: true, // Users with seat are always active but for users without seat we need to filter
@@ -148,9 +150,8 @@ export class GitLabClient {
       // https://github.com/backstage/backstage/issues/26438
       // Filter out API tokens https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/settings/project_access_tokens.html#bot-users-for-projects
       if (includeUsersWithoutSeat) {
-        const regex = /^(?:project|group)_(\w+)_bot_(\w+)$/;
         resp.items = resp.items.filter(user => {
-          return !regex.test(user.username);
+          return !botFilterRegex.test(user.username);
         });
       } else {
         resp.items = resp.items.filter(user => user.is_using_seat);