The premium plugins are arguably even worse.

Unlike the free plugins, they're not reviewed by the WordPress.org team, and if you stop paying for them then you'll lose access to their future plugin updates, including critical security fixes.

I wouldn't say that their code quality is noticably higher, either; there have been countless CVEs for premium WordPress plugins over the years, and no shortage of discontinued/abandoned premium plugins that are no longer being maintained but are still installed on thousands of sites.

It makes sense that you wouldn’t receive updates if you stopped paying. You’re paying for the labour up until that point. It’s like paying to have your grass mowed and then complaining because it wasn’t mowed again in the future without you paying.