To be clear: the reason not to use the free report is to see what your score is before reporting and choose what you want to report/not report. Most colleges allow you to choose which scores to report, though there are about five colleges in the US that require you to report all SAT scores.

PSA, you should first check each of your colleges' admission websites to see what score reporting methods they accept.

Some colleges require official reports sent before admission. If you have Nov 1 deadlines, for these colleges, order score reports the day scores are released.

Other colleges accept scores self-reported in the app, for free, to be followed by an official report only upon enrolling. For these colleges, simply enter the scores in your app before you submit it to the college.