Not sure if you want feedback on this, but mine is free.

The lists are impenetrable for my eye, I think an key mistake is that you don't use an accent color for titles in lists (i.e. look at a google serp).

That you don't directly link the content, felt like an offense, followed by a slap in the face looking at an AI generated summary.

The layout feels too reddit and too industrialized and the way you plan to progress the project, rings my "pet project to slam ad's on" bells.

I think the pure intent of OPs site naturally makes it more approachable and likeable.