This belies the secondary benefit of a free filing. More people will be filing for themselves, and most will not hire a professional tax service. Last year, they had a financial motive to make the process convoluted. This year, they will have a financial motive to simplify and streamline the process. It won't happen overnight, but transparency and convenience will win out over time.
So how does this work in states with income tax? I can file federally for free but then how do I file with the state? I don't know of any commercial options that allow for state filing only and have been using freetaxusa the last couple years (since Credit Karma went to shit) and still only pay for state filing.
It doesn't work for state unfortunately and there isn't an alternative. I also use freetaxusa. Maybe it's time to start pushing our states to make their own version of the federal site.