@comphys How comfortable are you with selfhosting? While it costs money, you get complete control and the self hosted WordPress is really robust. I tell people I try to avoid WordPress only because my goal is to learn other web tools out there. WordPress is so trivial I get bored from using it because I learn nothing lol.
@comphys SiteGround came up as the top WordPress hosting choice in reviews, and that's a name I've heard of since a decade ago, when they used to offer free web space which I tried out as a hobby. I moved on to other technology since but I'm surprised at how resilient SiteGround is after all these years. Fair prices too.