Rekordbox only on Subscription now? No free version?

Hi All, 

 I have owned Rekordbox for about 7 years now, and it has only ever given me grief. It has never allowed me to update past 5.7.0. This could be an issue with my Mac OS (currently 11.7.10 Big Sur). Yes that's old, but I was advised to always have an OS about 2 generations old, due to incompatibility issues on the release of new versions. 

However, the software has never let me update to the latest version, and I find it a nightmare to use, which I only do for storage, I wouldn't dare play out on it. I don't understand the Sync Manager at all, so I painstakingly update my playout USB by dragging and dropping, because the first time I tried to use Sync Manager it stripped about 1k tunes off my USB and I had to rebuild it. 

The software now does not play audio out, and if I go into settings, it shuts down completely. Currently I use it just for storage and transfer to my playout USB, but would perfer to have audio out of course. It obviously needs an update but I am now afraid to do so as it is likely to ask me for a subscription to a platform which is abysmal (at least in my experience). 

So, 2 questions. 1. Is there a free version of Rekordbox currently? If I go to  https://rekordbox.com/en/download/, it says there is an option for 'Free plus cloud management' bottom right, but it also says that is £7/month. Is it free or not? I don't want to download it, then it asks me for a sub, and doesn't allow me access to my music, a 5-year footprint I'd rather use it (although awful) without sound output, and not able to put loops and cues in on the collection, wait until my Mac dies and deal with it then. Alternaively, can I buy a one-off payment version without subscription? (it doesn't look like it).  If there is a (geninunely) free current version, I'll update my OS and Rekordbox and go ahead. 

I also don't want to update my OS and find that it will only accept the latest rekordbox, and therefore my money, and restrict access to my music. 

2, is there a workaround? Can I store, play, loop and cue tunes (without doing it on my XDJs) without paying Pioneer good money for a very bad product? Or, is there another free software that isn't affiliated with Pioneer that lets you play out on X/CDJs? Any help gratefully recieved, thanks for your time.