ethereum platform in my opinion is a choice that you must try. Although using ether to make transactions. Token ERC20 is very easy to make. Just need a little ether. If you don't have it, at least there is a fundraising first to have capital. Using a platform that runs on the blockchain network itself, in my opinion the difficulty is more complex, because there will be many bugs that you have to fix. Use ERC20 and make your coin easy.
And besides you need a capital for making project how come OP is affraid for just ETH fees just to create a token. making your own coin is more costly than using ethereum platform.