Relatedly, there seemed to be no acknowledgement of the possibility of dark incentives: many businesses have found they can increase sales by removing pricing details so that prospective customers get deeper into the funnel and end up buying because of sunk time costs even though they would have preferred a competitor. Example: car dealerships make it a nightmare to get pricing information online, and instead cajole you to email them or come in in person. In other words, a calculator makes it easier to comparison shop, which many businesses don't like.
I have no idea if that's a conscious or unconscious motivation for this business, but even if its not conscious it needs to be considered.
To be fair, the pricing is still available in this case: https://www.pinecone.io/pricing/ (though the "Unlimited XXX" with the actual price below in gray might be considered misleading)
Only if this were untrue, i.e., I was motivated by the fact that it made my customers believe my product was better than a worse product.
For me the principle is based on not exploiting the gap between the consumer and a better informed version of themselves. (“What would they want if they knew?”) There’s a principle of double effect: I don’t have to expend unlimited resources to educate them, but I shouldn’t take active steps to reduce information, and I shouldn’t leave them worse off compared to me not being in the market.
I have no idea if that's a conscious or unconscious motivation for this business, but even if its not conscious it needs to be considered.