Finally posting because the info out there is all over the place. Community input is worth way more than review sites on this one.
The freemium question is genuinely complicated. 'Free' means something different on almost every platform and the gap between what's advertised and what's actually available without paying can be enormous. I'm trying to figure out which platforms are genuinely usable without spending anything versus which ones are essentially demo versions designed to frustrate you into upgrading.
Ad-supported free tiers have gotten more functional as mobile ad revenue has grown.
Would really value hearing from people with actual hands-on experience rather than just what the platform claims about itself.