I am afraid that I completely disagree with @anon71687268 about the need for a freemium category. I think it’s absolutely essential.
As a user, I never consider using any premium plugin that I cannot try out first. So the distinction between freemium and pure premium is very important to me. I can investigate those in the former category, while completely ignoring the latter. If you merge the two, you are expecting me to have to go through each one to find out which form of offering it is. That negates a major part of having a directory in the first place. There is certainly no benefit to users in merging the freemium and premium categories.
But there is no benefit to developers either. In fact, if you merge the two, you take away any incentive for the developer to offer a free version, while also disincentivizing those who want to offer a free version from having a premium upgrade.
So I think it’s essential to stick with @azurecurve’s original idea of three categories: free, freemium, and premium. Transparency is fundamental here just as much as it is with every other aspect of ClassicPress.