Learning is a cost so, I am not sure what you mean by Free. (?)
I finished the answer to this sound thing and it did cost me, it cost me time and research. However, now I am not dependent on a 3rd Party that I have no interest to pay yearly.
It was just a few commands and a json write to documents directory(storing sound settings) so the costs were cheap. :D
I did a third party Sprite thing called SpriteLoq when I first came to Corona back in 2011. They had like a 2 year run. Stopped supporting their software. Corona updated the sprite package, they of course did not. And then my code as a consequence, was busted. It wasn’t officially sanctioned because there wasn’t a corona ‘marketplace’. I still to this day have to rewrite that entire piece of software to even update it.
I since have learned the ins and outs of Sprites and no longer use 3rd party purchases.
I am wary and I see a lot less sharing of information going on. That is what makes good healthy coding communities. Not nickle and dime-ing people off of subscriptions.
Again, this is all just my opinion based on 30 years of game experience so take it for whatever you want.