Which, for some people, is significant.

no one spending 7 dollars a month for a pure hobby would balk at spending $14. The difference is between nothing and anything.

It's definitely not true. I bought several dozens of these in the last decade for various projects and the price was definitely an important factor for some of them (especially the ones that I hope to be running for decades).

Seriously $7 for some people is the difference between eating for a week or not eating and without knowing where OP is it's hard to know.

Then why would he be spending $7 already on a hobby!??!

because "you have to spend money to make money" and building a resource people value for free despite the fact that you loose money, and then charging or asking for money is a proven technique for earning way more than $7 a month. It could be a financial stretch that has them on the edge, in hopes of earning a significant reward later.

It seems like you’re grasping at straws to defend your original statement.

The difference is between $7 and $50. If you want (auto)scaling, even manual, you need "Production-tier dynos", cheapest being $25. 2 of those is $50.