Github by comparison lets me pay like 5$/mo for LFS and 4$/mo for a team of one, bitbucket even lets you do up to 5 users for a total of 15$/mo , gitlab has nothing like that :(
Would they make money on $5 accounts? Does github make money on $4 accounts? Is it a sustainable pricing model or more like a “growth grab” which is not valued that much in 2023.
One thing I think is underrated is convincing students/hobbyists/personal users who then take those preferences/skills into the work place, that funnel seems especially useful when it comes to tooling. Gitlab seems to be missing that price point/market
Basically, it's aligning the success of your business to the success of your users. Most of what's offered in Gitlab Premium[1] would be of little value for a small development shop, yet if you have 5 users you're looking at $1000/yr for features that are unlikely to be used. It just doesn't make sense.