You grow WAY faster with a free product. There is no downside for people trying it out. If it was paid, even a small amount, that’s a hurdle for people. Plus p

You grow WAY faster with a free product. There is no downside for people trying it out. If it was paid, even a small amount, that’s a hurdle for people. Plus people avoiding it would have created more/stronger competing products as they had more incentive. Get a ton of users then try to monetize later is a very common SV play for VC backed companies.