Maybe it's improved since, but last time I used IDA free the cloud decompiler was buggy and weird and it was overall a mediocre experience. I don't see why anyone would choose to use it instead of Ghidra unless they were explicitly trying to learn IDA because it's the industry standard, and I don't see it holding that position long-term unless they improve their free/cheap offerings.

Not sure if they've changed things because I haven't bought a product from them for almost 10 years, but back then the free option was several releases behind the current offering, and lacking many features. Also, back then there was NO free version of HexRays (a separate product).