Sounds like free is the way to go. You'll get your name out in the community and probably get more use this way. And if it turns out to have commercial appeal

Sounds like free is the way to go. You'll get your name out in the community and probably get more use this way. And if it turns out to have commercial appeal, you can always do an upgraded version with more bells/whistles and sell that one. But everything you've described sounds like more frustration trying to make money rather than focusing on just trying to get it in people's hands -- which for most devs is the fun part (after coding).