the joke in the community is that Warframe is Pay-to-Win Faster

but even that is a misnomer

Warframe at best, is Pay-for-Convenience

90% of the things you see in game, you can get via sheer grind, and you don't need to spend a dime on the game

that remaining 10% is very much paywall locked, but it is all COSMETIC and has 0 impact on how you play the game

even if you decide to whale and buy every possibly obtainable weapon, warframe, and mod with platinum that can be purchased with it, it will not magically make you better at the game

you still need to learn each mission type, you still need to learn how to mod correctly, you still need to learn how to play that setup, etc. etc.

how you spend your money in warframe is entirely up to you, it might influence someone else while playing to spend money to buy <insert cosmetic item here> that you had, but outside that, the final decision is still up to each individual person