After a few years away from Reaper, trying to make Sonar work for me, I moved back to Reaper earlier this year. Only thing missing, for me, was ARA. So, Yay!!!
Anyhow, for those who aren't tracking this, or aren't familiar with Melodyne -- there's a rather nice BF discount for upgrades running on multiple sites. Much cheaper than can be found on Celemony's site. Here's one:
https://plugindiscounts.com/brand/celemony/
If you must have tempo editing, the upgrade from Essential to Editor is only $133, for instance. No multi-tracking, of course, but very few people will actually need this, rather than just wanting it.
If you own fairly recent versions of other DAWS, you probably have an included license for Essential. Off the top of my head, that includes at least Sonar, Studio One, and Waveform. Probably all the others in Celemony's compatibility list. Otherwise, you may still be able to buy a license for Essential for $49 on one of the discount sites, though I think that's deal's over. For now.
And -- if you have a friend who owns multiple DAWS, they likely have multiple Essential licenses. To the best of my knowledge, these are not linked, and can be transferred. Not trying to sabotage Celemony's marketing, or trigger a tsunami of begging for free licenses, but there are marketplaces at KVR and Gearslutz, among others.