There's a popular narrative that premium items and experiences are inherently superior to their cheaper and free alternatives, but that isn't always the case.

A lot of the time, free really is as good as it gets.

Redditor u/EyesKyoob petitioned the AskReddit community for a list of unbelievable free stuff, and the responses really delivered the goods.

What free thing is so good you can’t believe it’s actually available for free?
byu/EyesKyoob inAskReddit

Well over 4,000 comments have been made from free-thusiasts, but we can't recommend reading them all because time is money. As such, we're saving you big time by highlighting only the best ones below.

An open source media player that's better than the mainstream competition

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Delivering real educational tools for $FREE

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Public libraries are one of the few nice things we still have left as a society

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Wikipedia is undoubtedly the single greatest website that has ever been created

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Local and county governments maintain parks that everyone can enjoy for free

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GPS and mapping services are so unbelievably valuable

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Gee, this universal healthcare thing sure sounds nice

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Countless incredible museums are free to the public

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Everything mentioned here is free to use, but relies on support from either taxes or donations.

Via u/EyesKyoob.

[Image: Vlad Chețan]