It doesn’t “crash”, the project just won’t load with unbuilt plugins.
What version did you build? You specifically need to build “Development with editor” in order to launch the editor without visual studio. After that is compiled the project can be started like normal from the .UProject file.
The pre-built binaries are the only way to use it without a compiler, but I specifically suggest that the compiled version be used as once you understand building it once it makes upgrading to new versions far easier in the future and I release new versions constantly.
if you REALLY don’t want to touch a compiler a plugin may not be the best thing for you.