I don't see how this is any different?
He wasn't harmed in the sense that netlify drove to his house and stabbed him. He lost access to a free food platter.
If people are planning their near future based on what you've said you would likely be giving them, then at some point there is probably some inherited responsibility to at least give the user of that service a heads up so they can make other plans if possible.
While with Netlify the person is back at exactly where they started before Netlify was hosting w/e their project was. So they're in the same neighborhood with the same battery level as they started with.
The free tier is very clearly not for professional work so its really more like if your buddy said they could pick you up but they won't move a couch for you and you showed up with a couch and they just left.
Hmm, moving to a free service can take a lot of time, there might be lock-in?
I don't have specific experience of netlify.
I stayed with my hosting provider despite them doubling my costs just because it would take a long time to find another trustable provider with the offering I need and then a lot of time to move and make sure everything is working.
If it's just a white label service then yes, easy to switch back. If it's not directly comparable then integration costs (in time) can mean you've been "dumped in the road half way there".
Of course if the driver tells you directly "I might have to drop you half way" then that's fine.
"pay" is inaccurate. "Consideration" is the word you are looking for. It's silly to think otherwise.
If you’re not paying for it you’re not owed anything. Someone was doing you a favour at their expense and then they stopped. If you want something you can rely on pay for it.
Those are not people who need support. They were locked out with no warning and no explanation.
Netlify's own EULA states (https://www.netlify.com/pdf/self-serve-subscription-agreemen...):
> While we always make an effort to communicate clearly and well in advance if we decide a particular website project is not a good fit for our Free Usage Tier, we reserve the right to disable or remove any website project on Netlify’s Free Usage Tier without notice at our sole discretion
so every free user should very much expect "an effort to communicate clearly and well in advance". They were explicitly told they should.
