I wish the post made more clear, ideally right at the top, that the new fee applies only to third-party apps that access the HIBP API, not to end users whose email addresses are being checked against the API. You have to read through the post a bit before that becomes clear.

Individual users who just want to figure out whether they've been pwned will not have to pony up the cash. They can still visit https://haveibeenpwned.com and get that information for free.