I was in the same situation as you - I couldn't upgrade because I'm not in the US. But there is the ability to get a support chat (after going through a couple of bot suggestions) - and they quickly took me through a different route to change billing country (even though I was, like you, on the legacy free version with no billing to date).
I've set up a one-user paid-for account for the time being, but the whole "rug-pull" has left a bad taste and I'll be on the lookout for an alternative solution from here on.
I'd like to see this as a setting, so both camps can be appeased. I'm like OP, I keep forgetting to manually open in a new tab, then wonder where HN has gone after I close the tab again.
I've recently dropped it; I simply say to clients that if they want their site to support a ten+ year old browser with little standards support then costs will increase. Haven't had a taker so far.
I haven't used it for several years now, but when I finally got shot of it, it was because (a) it was still buggy after numerous upgrades, (b) support was appalling and (c) it felt like Intuit simply wanted to gouge as much money out of me as possible - it felt like I was always paying for the latest, required, version. I don't know whether the situation has changed in recent years?
You'll want to consider international users. I'm in France and, I'm sure, you're based Stateside. Will it work for a user such as me? I assume not... but if it will, tell the user, and give international dialing numbers.
I went through the Linux-only mindset for years but now pragmatism rules and I use Linux for development and general productivity, Macs for Garageband and testing my website on Safari, and Windows for Solitaire...