I think MapnSoft is owned by Hyundai because the copyright notice at the bottom of the home page reads "© 2018 HYUNDAI MNSOFT America. All Rights Reserved."
No, the updates definitely are not free. They charge an extra $50 if you want the update on a new SD Card. They seem to use $169 as their usual price and release map and feature updates a couple of times a year. They used to offer a $99 special for a short period of time right before they released the next version but that did not happen on the last release or this one.
I've read here that some people got free updates from their dealer but it probably was only if their car was delivered with an out-of-date version. Yes, you could buy a new Garmin with free lifetime quarterly map and software updates for about the cost of one Hyundai update.
My '16 came with v9.5 and the free Android Auto/Apple CarPlay update included the v10.5 features and map updates.
I do use the Sirius XM traffic and while it is nowhere near as good as the Garmin HD traffic and nowhere near as fast with real-time updates as Garmin, it is usually OK. If the weather is bad I'll stick the Garmin on the windshield and use it for traffic or fire up Waze and listen to it. (I looked at the Waze update that allowed it to be displayed via Android Auto on my 8" display when it came out last summer and it was disappointing at best. it may be better now.)
The Sirius XM traffic does give road closure updates rather quickly. There was an intersection closure near home because of a water main break and they updated the map before I headed home that evening. A bridge on my route is closed for reconstruction and they updated the map to show it on the day it closed.
I'm thinking a MapnSoft update every two or three years will be my goal unless something nice is added or a significant change occurs with the roads I use. If they added the Garmin feature of turning the road speed sign reddish when you exceed the speed limit I'd probably buy that update. I miss that feature the most. If they allowed it to go yellow for the first five MPH over or let you set it to when you wanted it to go red (1-10 MPH) I'd definitely buy it but there may be some liability incurred with a settable feature like that.