Surprise, Pay $1000
10 hours ago
- #CI/CD Tools
- #Developer Experience
- #SaaS Billing
- The author's team tried Blacksmith as a faster and cheaper alternative to GitHub Actions, noticing improvements but facing unexpected billing issues.
- Despite being on a free trial without a credit card, they received invoices for overage charges, totaling over $1,000, which were immediately marked overdue.
- Blacksmith support clarified that 'disruption' warnings referred to potential account flagging, not service stoppage, a policy the author finds unconventional and surprising for users.
- The author questions the legality and ethics of this billing practice, noting it likely surprises most users and may harm goodwill, despite being technically permissible under terms.
- Despite the billing surprise, the team considers continuing with Blacksmith due to its performance benefits over GitHub Actions, but advises users to monitor trial limits and SaaS providers to adopt clearer free-tier policies.