No, that's hardly a drop in the bucket. They keep track of all of your stats, and the stats of those you play against. By analyzing your stats and running various reports against your hand history, leaks become apparent and give you something to work on. They also provide a HUD for real-time opponent stats while you're playing.what do they do that helps you improve your game? dont they just keep track of all your winnings?
Poker Tracker 3 offers a 60 Day free trial, but of course you must buy after that. Hold Em Manager (which I prefer) only offers a 15 day trial. Both are around $90 to purchase.
If you used the trials concurrently, that would give you 75 days to scratch some cash together plus you could decide which you like better. (Which is what I did)
I'm not aware of any free software.