Let X be a simply connected finite CW-complex such that dim π_*(X)Q=∞. We prove that if X is coformal (this is an hypothesis coming from the rational homotopy theory) then the sequence of rational Betti numbers of its free loop space, (dim H_n(X^S1;Q))_n≥1, has an exponential growth. Since the Betti numbers of the free loop space on a simply connected closed Riemannian manifold bound below the number of closed geodesics, we deduce from the inequality above that on hyperbolic coformal manifolds, the number of closed geodesics of length ≤t grows exponentially with t. Our methods permit also to prove a dichotomy theorem for the growth of Hochschild homology of graded Lie algebras of finite-dimensional cohomology.