No transaction is ever free. In EOS cost it is paid out through 5% inflation to miners. The big advantage is the EOS distribution which gets many many people invested in the block chain. The other advantage is if they take the money raised and invest it to create the best dApp ecosystem then it will become popular. Similar to the App Store selling iPhones.
RE: Now that EOS uses the NEO consensus mechanism, what makes EOS better? 🤔