It never occurred to me to consider using a free one. I can smell the stench of those things all the way across the internet. Remember “you are the product”. Just get some cheap vps and run something like openvpn or wireguard. It will run a few bucks a month tops. You can afford it.

I use Surfshark, reliable and very customisable also includes an adblocker. You can use it on unlimited devices so can share it. It is paid - if you want a quality one you’re better off paying for it as the other person said, it’s just more trustworthy and so there’s less concern about what your data is being used for (especially when if you’re wanting a VPN it’s usually for privacy)