Not sure what free stuff you are talking about but PSE11, PSE12 and
PSE13 are pretty much stand-alone programs and for most things you don't
need anything else to make them work for you and achieve what you intend
to achieve from the products.
Best thing is to use the product and if you are stuck anywhere, you can
post a question to this particular forum and somebody will try to help
you out.
Good luck.