diff --git a/bibigrid/core/startup.py b/bibigrid/core/startup.py
index a96bfb2e..30816cde 100755
--- a/bibigrid/core/startup.py
+++ b/bibigrid/core/startup.py
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ def check_cid(cluster_id):
         LOG.info("-cid %s is not a cid, but probably the master's ip. "
                  "Using the master ip instead of cid only works if a cluster key is in your systems default ssh key "
                  "location (~/.ssh/). Otherwise bibigrid can't identify the cluster key.")
-    if len(cluster_id) != id_generation.MAX_ID_LENGTH or not set(cluster_id).issubset(
+    if len(cluster_id) > id_generation.MAX_ID_LENGTH or not set(cluster_id).issubset(
             id_generation.CLUSTER_UUID_ALPHABET):
         LOG.warning(
             f"Cluster id doesn't fit length ({id_generation.MAX_ID_LENGTH}) or defined alphabet "
diff --git a/bibigrid/core/startup_rest.py b/bibigrid/core/startup_rest.py
index e995e090..f56e1af3 100644
--- a/bibigrid/core/startup_rest.py
+++ b/bibigrid/core/startup_rest.py
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ def setup(cluster_id, configurations_json=None):
     """
     if cluster_id:
         if cluster_id and (
-                len(cluster_id) != id_generation.MAX_ID_LENGTH or not set(cluster_id).issubset(
+                len(cluster_id) > id_generation.MAX_ID_LENGTH or not set(cluster_id).issubset(
             id_generation.CLUSTER_UUID_ALPHABET)):
             LOG.warning(f"Cluster id doesn't fit length ({id_generation.MAX_ID_LENGTH}) or defined alphabet "
                         f"({id_generation.CLUSTER_UUID_ALPHABET}). Aborting.")