I have a client who is unable to provision a Node-RED starter app in Bluemix. The "Create" button is not there and instead there is an "Upgrade" button. I know this was very much available in a free account so wonder if there is a problem with the account? - I should have said that last week we did the same thing; signed up for Bluemix and provisioned a NodeRED starter in the same way and the button to "Create" the NodeRED starter was there. I am able to provisions the starter in my account as is the person who created an account last week, however when trying in this new account (set up yesterday) they cannot. The pricing for the starter is shows as "free for 30 days or 375Mb)" when you look at it.
Short story... this is a temporary problem, some new accounts are getting created without the 30 limit but with limits on the services instead. Key services will be offered free forever as a basic tier and only when you need extra ooomf will you need to move to a chargeable tier/service. However the NodeRED boilerplate may have been incorrectly assigned as a payable boilerplate in that new pricing structure. The IoT starter that contains similar services IS free in this new pricing plan and can be used for now if you need NodeRED. Should be fixed soon.