Yeah, I'm sure Aeropress is making bank selling you $15 worth of filters once or twice a year[0]. Or you could spend that same $15 on Aeropress' stainless mesh filter[1], and they'll never see another dime from you again.
Downside to metal mesh filter: it doesn't pull out all of the oily residue that a paper filter would. It doesn't bother us, but you might be more picky.
Maybe! But the filters are currently under €0.02 per unit on Amazon in a pack of 700 and it makes incredible coffee when paired with pretty much any (non spinny-blade) grinder, and pretty decent coffee when paired with preground. And the inventor says he washes the filters off and uses them two or three times each.
Aeropress and French Press make fundamentally different coffees. The paper filter in the Aeropress changes the taste and "feel" of the coffee in ways that many people prefer. Additionally, the pressure created during the "pressing" process changes the extraction a bit (nowhere near as much as espresso type pressures, but more than nothing).
Filters remove sediment and oils, which gives the coffee a 'clean' mouth feel. A little hard to describe, but easy to observe if you make a french press and a v60/aeropress using the same beans and grind and compare.
