Can you use Coldfusion for free?

Is it true that coldfusion is free to use?

Yes and no:

Yes, you can use it if you use coldfusion for developement purposes on your local machine or development server. You can download a full working version from the official download page of Macromedia, http://www.macromedia.com/software/coldfusion/trial/ .

Download it and run the installer. You'll be asked what version to install. A trial, developer version or provide a serial. If you use Trial, it will have all the abillities as the real fully operational Enterprise edition for 30 days. After the 30 days, it will automaticly downgrade it to a Developer version. This version has as well all the capabillities of the Enterprise edition, but has some minor performance limitations on the following points (which don't hold you back with development!):

• Only reachable from localhost (127.0.0.1) and 2 other IP's in the same subnet
• PDF/FlashPaper/Excel sheets are watermarked and are created one at a time (no simultanues generating)
• Gateways are limited to a single request at a time.

And no, it's not free to host Coldfusion for production use. You'll need a standard ($1200.- or €1200,-) or a Enterprise ($5999.- or €5999,-) license to host a site/application.