we've cut the free quotas from super-generous to just generous. we're still the only large service offer generic platform free quota with no time limit.
as for delay in SSL on custom domains, we're guilty as charged; we're not happy it's taking so long and we're working hard on it.
some apps get high multiples because they're using resources that weren't counted before, or were counted differently; that's why we enabled side-by-side billing now (before we switch on billing). if you email me your appid ([email protected]) we can help. you should also review the FAQ and the tuning tips web page that we put together.
we encourage you to look at appscale for app mobility. we're not interested in artificial lock-in from APIs. we're not that kind of a company. we're confident we can make the overall service superior. please note that we haven't changed the prices since we launched pricing, and GAE was in preview. that's an element to the notion of "preview". we're now taking it out of preview into a fully supported Google product. and part of that was to reprice so we have a sustainable business. after we announced the new pricing in May at I/O, we've actually seen our growth rate increase, since customers appreciate that we're committing to GAE.
you have time before the billing switches on to tune/adjust your application. check out the FAQ and tuning tips page. the prices are going up, but they are also changing, in that we're measuring things differently. most apps that are initially seeing a large multiplier are because of the latter effect, not the former. this is why we built and launched the side-by-side billing. (i'm on the GAE team)