Good tools are worth paying for
dylanfitzgerald.net
dylanfitzgerald.net
However, the most common case is that the best tools available for the work I are actually the FOSS ones. I still pay (when that's possible) for them.
Sometimes they're the best because they work better in the absolute for me, other times they're the best because the commercial alternatives come with a level of lock-in that I'm not comfortable with.