It is an immutable distro, altough it isn't image-based like Fedora's rpm-ostree.
NixOS basically replaces Ansible because the Nix package manager achieves the same goals already (configuration, deployment, ...).
But I agree, the work necessary to put into this non-standard distro makes it hard to recommend for a casual user.
Why hyprocisy? It's a fair point to say circumventing paying in some way is piracy. It's possible, so anyone can decide for themselves.