> maybe this whole cycle of free tier companies just isn't working?
That feels like a stretch. I can say for myself there are a number of developer services I pay for monthly that I don't think I would have tried if not for the free tier. Once you company starts stagnating (like Heroku) then sure, maybe it's time to kill the free tier since you aren't attracting people (other than scammers) but that's just a sign you are giving up in my eyes.