You guys do know that most of the big exchanges of course SAY that they don't charge a listing fee, right? But there have been a few independent investigations I remember reading where journalists just ask the site owners, and after negotiations they all ask for a fee.
They will call it service fee, or admin charges or something, but it's basically STILL a listing fee;)
Of course. After all, exchanges need to live off something. Like it or not, fees are their main source of income. Still though, I'm concerned that listing fees are ridiculously high among centralized exchanges. This would make a developer's life harder as he/she would need to have enough funding (a hefty sum of money) to list the new coin in a prominent crypto exchange. While decentralized exchanges don't charge as much as centralized ones, they lack an important thing which keeps the money flowing into crypto. And that is liquidity. Centralized exchanges which require votes instead of a one-time payment for listing a new coin, seem to be a better option today.
Even so, the coin needs to have a solid vision, a good development team & community in order to become accepted by an specific centralized exchange. A coin which is highly inactive in development (like Dogecoin) has a lesser chance of being listed on a centralized exchange than otherwise. Of course, Dogecoin is an exception since it's heavily used by everyday people and widely supported by its community. I believe it has the most trading pairs in crypto land, despite being an abandoned coin in development and innovation.
Nonetheless, it seems to me that Mercatox, KuCoin, and Unnamed Exchange are good choices for listing a coin "for free". They do require votes though. However, a strong community could make the coin reach the required number of votes to get listed on any of these exchanges. Be aware that once atomic swaps become practical for mainstream use, the need for listing a coin for trading will be highly unnecessary. Which is why I believe developers would choose this route instead for their own benefit. Just my thoughts