I mean it's true, but that's part of the appeal. The TCO of a hobby is a consideration.

I feel like most people don’t buy the book either

I've definitely paid less than the price of a book to scrape a subscription site that wouldn't just sell me a copy of what I was looking for.

Beats going to library and photocopying whole books, though.

Ehh but this is the 5e players handbook we’re talking about. Google 5e handbook pdf and you’ll get results, for free, easily found even if you’re not pirate savvy.