for me, a low-life domain i'd chose free, i'm talking non ecom, no real threat to hacking as i protect it normally , but going the ssl gives google somethign to look at, honestly i have not bee pro-active in this so far.
but free on a blog or a client that promotes their "meditation services" , " plumbing" , you get the drift the free is all cool.
a client who is selling $1000 bucks a week, then go the paid version, for me its more about the LOGO you can place on the site, YEP, thats it . people want to see logos IMO.
tim