This bait-and-switch along with real uptime issues is why I left GitLab years ago. I have a personal rule of; "if there is a reasonable OSS alternative to a proprietary software, use it." Unfortunately they are not reasonable. I was even a a paying customer but they changed their pricing structure so many times and moved features around for different tiers I couldn't justify it as a business.
I've been happy moving back to GitHub post Microsoft acquisition. If I ever got fed up with GitHub I find Gitea to be refreshingly simple and does basically everything I need.
I do wish the best for GitLab though and am rooting for them. Any company that makes an OSS model work is one worth having hope for.