what does receive 3 free payments mean on the free starter plan

Hello,

The payments count stated in the subscription plans mean that you are allowed to receive payment submissions when using any of the payment fields in the form builder, except for purchase order field which is not bound by this setting limit.

After reaching this limit, you will only be able to receive regular submissions with the limits allowed for the respective subscription plan.

Please check out this guide for more information: https://www.jotform.com/help/chapter-7-Payment+Forms