I wouldn't say free. I would say it's included in the $12/year price of .com registration. I suspect that price is competitive with registrars that have a base

I wouldn't say free. I would say it's included in the $12/year price of .com registration. I suspect that price is competitive with registrars that have a base price that doesn't include WHOIS privacy and sell privacy as an add-on, though I haven't shopped around in a while. All my domains are registered with Google Domains.