Be able to join online servers without an Xbox Gold or PSN membership

The main premise of minecraft has always been playing with other people and ever since I've started playing on console I can hardly play with any of my friends who all play on PC. Playing minecraft online is free on PC bedrock but requires a membership on console bedrock which makes absolutely no sense. I havent played minecraft in a while simply because the only thing which I enjoyed, playing with others, requires me to pay more just because I'm on a different platform.