Truth be told, if you're not a part of a huge project with connections and funding, you need money to list on big exchanges.
If you are a small project your best bet would be to stay consistent, grow and eventually you'll make connections and enough money to list on a tier 1 exchange.
This is exactly why you should be a token and not a coin, and get listed on DEX because they are easier. Do you know what you need in order to create a token and be able to trade it on pancakeswap? Just a link. You may not see the name there or have LP there or get staking there, that still requires time and it may take a while before people can see it on pancakeswap. But if you build a bep20 BSC token, then you could get it traded on pancake swap router as soon as you start, it requires no upfront payment. The only other "free" option to be listed anywhere is to have a huge volume, because if you have a huge volume then exchanges will line up to list you since volume equals profit for them. Aside from these two options, there is no scenario where you would be listed for free, you will have to pay a HUGE amount of money that would be useless and shouldn't be done.