Free is highly recommended to avoid...its going to cost you in the end. Would you let a group of strangers clean your house for free?...hello no...there is always a motive (not to your benefit behind free)
I think Godaddy is doing,99 a month if you pay for 2 years, even .coms. You don't have to host it with them,(or want to) just change the DNS or CNAME if using a CRM.
Namecheap with give you a .com for 6$ , for the first year if you are new. "Oddball" ones from name cheap can be anywhere from .98 cents a year to $2 or 3$ for the first year.
Free SSL and privacy is included for all domains with their 7$ a-month shared hosting (great for getting started)
Need to make a few bucks to get going (it's not going to make you enough to pay rent or anything) but, survey sites like Ysence (world wide), Surveyjunkie, and Swagbucks (pay in payapl) could get you over $100 if you go at it heavy for 2 days. I still do 5$ a morning ob SB as a sip coffee to have an extra 150$ a month to pay for online tools.