Are SaaS free tiers disappearing?
Userify is decreasing their free tier from 20 servers to only 5 servers, which represents a 75% drop in how many servers you can manage SSH keys on with a free plan.
Are other companies doing this too, and does it really make sense? Isn't there a significant marketing benefit to generous free tiers?
Frequently, no. Most companies with 20 servers aren't going to turn into 2000 server companies. A lot of companies with 20 servers are very immature, needy and demanding. It isn't worth the effort to continue support for non-customers that don't pay today and won't pay tomorrow.
Yes, because times are tough and startups need to focus on serious customers.