It's as if everyone here suddenly forgot all free VPNs are honeypots.
They have your payment information, identity, and everything all linked to that VPN config.
Don't be fooled by the standard cliche around free VPNs. Some free VPNs are bad, but to say that because a VPN is paid it is legit is just wrong.
They also list all their servers so you can modify your config to have any combination of servers/locations to use and fall back to.
There are plenty of guides, especially for the big VPS providers like DigitalOcean.
I pay by cash, so they don't have my payment info.