Sadly, the free plan was not cost-efficient for Bubble, thus they were forced to unfortunately limit it’s capabilities. Bubble still has the mindset of a free no-code tool, and that is why they kept the free plan. You can still develop your system up to a small MVP / proof of concept, and then upgrade to unlock the features needed for a fully-functioning web application. The free plan is now a “in development” plan is how I like to think of it.
Lately, Bubble has mentioned they are doing A/B testing of new pricing models, and a lower-tier pricing model may be coming soon, hopefully. This lower tier will likely have very basics, such as ability to deploy live and a custom domain, and that is likely all.
That is speculation.
I do hope to see a lower-tier at some point, but for now, we can develop and play on the free plans, however as @johnny points out in the wonderful thread linked below, it’s not financially feasible to have the free plan they once did.
