Indeed, there is a massive gap between free and $1/month. Personally I outright refuse to buy anything digital involving monthly payments (except where there is no alternative like domain names, etc.)

Additionally, I pay for Anthropic's products and will not consider OpenAI offerings. There are many people like this.

I pay more for a faster PC and a bigger screen.

I also pay for better AI. My - and probably your time - and the time saved by using superior tooling, is worth far more than the meagre few dollars spent each month on some subscription.

You're stepping over dollars to pick up dimes.