I know this is just me being pedantic but the blog part is not free. You pay 100/year to get both an email and a blog. You can't get the blog without paying.
svbtle costs $7 per month and $75 per year. And it has stayed in business for years. I use an SSG and host my blog on vercel for free but for someone who don't want to deal with software and don't want the surveillance of a social blogging platform, hey.com and svbtle are good solutions.
https://www.hey.com/world/