Joe Brockmeier over at Dissociated Press makes a point about free software that may make some folks uncomfortable but that I’ve long felt is true: Give nothing, expect nothing. The TL;DR is that if you are using a free service such as GitLab you really don’t have much standing to complain when those services are modified or even eliminated. The companies providing these services are for profit. How else are they going to pay for their infrastructure and engineers?
My longstanding policy is to pay for any service I find useful. That’s not because I’m an especially virtuous person but because if the service is useful to me, I want it to continue to be available. It’s fine to try out a service for free but as soon as it becomes vital to your company or workflow, you better start paying for it to ensure it will still be available tomorrow.
If you don’t pay, then you don’t get to whine when the service is restricted or eliminated. Even if you can’t contribute financially, you can help by providing code or documentation or otherwise supporting the product. Regardless, don’t be an entitled nitwit who thinks the companies providing these services owe you something. They don’t.