I’m forced to agree, GitLab’s pricing could be easier to understand and more competitive.
I haven’t ran into the 5 user limit; I suspect that’s not a limit of the self-hosted version. I will say it’s a pain to get a clear understanding of what is available and what’s not on the free edition when self hosting… also there are 2 free editions (community and unlicensed enterprise) now which adds to the confusion.