As The AncientOne said, it depends on what you want to do. If you are setting up a small server on a shell account and are catering only for one customer base then a free IRCd + services + optionally a java applet may be fine.
If you have hundreds or even thousands of customers it's far from acceptable to throw a product base like this at them. They will want something that is customisable. If you guys realised what the CR Java applet is capable of then you'd appreciate why CR costs alot of money. The Java applet is but one small example, there are others. EG: What freeware IRCd can run a commercial or celebrity 'auditorium' type of chat where the conversation is burnt to a HTML file in real time generated by the IRCd? There might be one but most coders of freeware IRCd's concentrate on things that commercial entites are not interested in such as HalfOp compatibility or ban exceptions. Good features but not terribly important in the market that commercial software serves.
The reference to a C programmer was made because if you wanted a freeware IRCd to perform some of the functions that CR has then you would infact need a programmer to make that happen.
Getting back to Java applets, most third party applets don't even support basic IRC commands such as /whois let alone be able to be skinned, colour coded, bordeless option, full event parameter support, etc.
The good thing about CR is that everything comes together in one single download. IRCd, Distributed Services, Web server, Java applet, WAP Client, SSL, Roomholders, the best and most comprehensive server notices in the business, you name it. Then there is AdminServ providing the ability to make changes to all the configuration files from mIRC, Java or another client. Then there is the built in remote configuration server allowing the same ease of use from any machine in the world that has a web browser and can connect to the web.
To each their own, but here's what I would do if I started a chat service:
1. Colocated server
2. CR (latest version)
Shell account and freeware? No chance. The $7000 I would pay for CR is chickenfeed when you look at what you get for it.
