It works pretty well if you are doing a small world with some friends just running on the free plan. You mention needing to start the server whenever your friends want to play. While the free plan is not always on, a server can be started in the lobby via the /join command. (Your friends can do this without your intervention)
Overall, minehut has met all of my expectations and I recommend it to all my friends. I also recommend you use it too.
P.S. If you ever decide to switch hosts, you can easily get all your world files, etc.