You need to pay for at least the basics really. You need more of the info than just what you can gather.
There are a couple ways to join:
1) meetings - weekly fees and about 8-12 weeks worth of materials.
2) at home - order the at home package which contains everything you get at the meetings plus a calculator and a few other things for about $99.
3) online - monthly fee about the cost of 1.5 weeks at meetings, does have a sign up free and you can choose to pay 3 months at a time or 1 month at a time.
Online gives you everything you need online plus tracking.
You can also get information purchased on e-bay but watch out for price gouging!
I have seen the starter kits on EBay...you might want to give that a try...I know that it can be expensive! Not that I want to deter you from WW, but I have heard from friends that the TOPS plan is very affordable!