> Sure, but "free" is frictionless for most developers at any business while "cheap" would still incur going through the purchasing process (at bigger corporations and/or governments) or asking your manager to pull out the company creditcard.

This is really a non issue. Developers can evaluate whether the product meets needs and then get whoever is responsible to pay. In every company I worked, when I needed a commercial product, I put my case forward and most of the time got the company card to pay without issue.

I simply can't see how this is a valid excuse. No amount of friction can justify people not being paid for their work.

After all we can say why pay workers at all if there need to go through payroll, it's such a hassle...