Wow, you're right. It looks like they are talking about some other managed service.
That makes the post even more meaningless since they don't even say what managed service they are using. It seems they are complaining about what some unnamed managed service is charging them and framing it as criticism of WordPress.
What do you even mean by vanilla wordpress?
Get a hosting service with a DB for a couple bucks a month, install wordpress, do whatever you want with it by following the wonderful documentation that is anywhere on the internet.
What else is there to talk about?
Well, if you're talking about vanilla WordPress, the article doesn't make any sense. Vanilla WordPress is completely free. There are no fees for adding different fonts or any of the other things you say you were charged for. So if it's not a managed service charging you those fees, where are they coming from?
