I will answer this way - in my example, when I was doing, for example, deadlifts regularly in every training for years with a load of 300-340 kg for repetitions and I rowed with a barbell weighing 220-240 kg, or pull-ups with an additional 20-40 kg at the waist, my back was great . As I started training a little lighter, focusing more on machines and feeling muscles, my back got a lot worse. The same with the chest, for example, when I pressed a barbell weighing 180-200 kg for 5-12 repetitions and flyes with 50-60 kg dumbbells in one hand, I had the best chest. As I switched more to cables and machines it got worse.
So I think free weights will always be better than a machine when it comes to gaining muscle. If we are already very advanced, we have some injuries, etc., then the machines become the only option for a fairly normal training, but not in the situation where we have no problems.
Currently, I have returned to training myself with the advantage of free weights and I am going to get to my best lifts or even try to improve them because I am only 32 years old, which is actually the age at which we reach the peak when it comes to bodybuilding