I published in 2017 with Religions for the Special Issue of the Society of Tantric Studies. I was still a PhD scholar without any scholarship or financial support. I don't remember if Prof. Heyes was able to let me publish for free or if all the authors of the special issue did not pay fees—however the review process was quite hard and the published articles through that Special Issue were very good, in my personal view.
One or two years ago I would like to publish an article regarding the Kālikāpurāņa through a special issue proposed by Prof. Dold about Śākta Purāņas, but as independent scholar I have no time, and honestly not anymore wish, to look for any kind of sponsor and I am not paying with my personal money to publish.
I also reviewed an article for a special issue of Religions, they offered me a discount for future publications (that obviously I never used), that was ridiculous. If you wanna pay who act as peer-reviewer you pay with real money or giving him/her/they the possibility to publish free of fees.
Paolo