Gitlab is hosted on Azure and like many startups received six figures worth of free credits to be in the cloud. As the credits run out the architecture reverts

Gitlab is hosted on Azure and like many startups received six figures worth of free credits to be in the cloud. As the credits run out the architecture reverts to the natural state - architectures tend to be the derivative of organizational structure, code base, and processes of a company. Through this lens these decisions start making more sense. It is a reactionary process. Sometimes when you start small you bounce around like that and are lucky enough to grow for years and years until you hit a wall.