Expect a lot more of this over the next year. We've all gotten used to generous free plans due to the era of zero percent interest and high growth; that era is ending (at least temporarily). Almost every SaaS business that has not already re-done their pricing tiers since the interest rate hikes is in the process of doing so. Oh, and ad-supported plans are going to get way more aggressive on the ads.
Cheap money lasted for such a long time that we're all used to being on economic painkillers 24/7.
Develop a long-term plan that builds a stable business, and keeps both the proprietor and customers happy, and I'm happy to support them.
All of this applies equally to businesses that were sustainable (or on a path to sustainability). The amount of money a business can responsibly spend on loss leaders like a free tier is dependent on growth rate and cost of capital.
Now that cost of capital has gone up and growth has gone down, the amount you can reasonably spend on loss leaders is comparatively tiny.
This does not mean we should expect fundamental changes in most business models going forward. Most startups did not take the Vision Fund approach to their business model that so fundamentally warped a few markets (Uber, WeWork, etc.)