I have a similar product (teampa.ge/) and don't think making it Free is the solution (I did, didn't matter for sales, maybe a bit for SEO though). The issue is more for me - and I think for you as well - that it is not really a pain to solve.

I also talked to a bunch of co-working spacing, and most didn't really care about their website (and due to high churn, kinda a hassle to manage all listed people/companies).

I think it should evolve to more than list a list of people, to actually make connections between people, or a way for people to get featured (stand out) so they have a reason to put time and energy into it.