This makes no sense. The domain is not free, there’s a reason why these plans are yearly: you’re paying for the yearly domain registration as part of the domain

This makes no sense. The domain is not free, there’s a reason why these plans are yearly: you’re paying for the yearly domain registration as part of the domain+hosting. The domain is still yours and you can move it later just like any other domain. There’s virtually no disadvantage in this deal unless the provider prevents you from changing DNS records.