Ways to say something is free

[open adder]

I've encountered a lot of ways to say something is free (as in beer). Gratis, umsonst, kostenlos, kostenfrei, frei, gebührenfrei. Duden says "kostenfrei" is Rechtssprache, and that all are synonyms. Are there any distinctions in their uses? Would kostenfrei only be used in a legal context? Are there any other words for "free" I should know about? Thanks in advance :)

[knotty plank]

„Kostenfrei“ is pretty formal and not really used during a normal conversation. I think most of the time people use either „gratis “or “kostenlos“

They all mean the same tho

[vale totem]

You use "für umsonst" anywhere you could reasonably replace with an actual number + currency

[knotty plank]

Laut Herr Anwalt, ist das ja sogar Arbeitszeit

[vale totem]

In all other cases, where the context is similar enough kostenlos/umsonst are interchangeable, but there are lots of contexts where you could use umsonst but not kostenlos

[knotty plank]

Thats true actually

'Schule ist zwar kostenlos, aber bei manchen umsonst' for example

[vale totem]

Right yeah just had to refresh myself on some examples but it seems like kostenlos is mostly attached to monetary costs where umsonst can be inherently a little more abstract, and has a more universal connotation to it rather than just saying that it's "umsonst" for the speaker, that the thing being described as "umsonst" is just "umsonst"

While something is kostenlos in relation to the person paying for it, maybe the speaker

[knotty plank]

Yeah

I didn't event think about that

But it's true

[vale totem]

Ty for corroborating that lol I can't ever be completely certain as a non native

[knotty plank]

No problem, it's actually for me as a native speaker good too because now I have to think about (grammar) rules and words I just never questioned before

[short shore]

* Gratis: Without financial cost
* Umsonst: 'for nothing' ('You can have it for nothing/It was all for nothing')
* Kostenlos: Without financial cost
* Kostenfrei: Without financial cost
* Frei: Free (in every sense of the word except financial)
* Gebührenfrei: Free of charge

[open adder]

Thanks folks! 💞