@goblinses Yeah I basically do all of the above for various projects and people, but for a long time (15 years or more??) I could just say to folks "OK, just get a domain or subdomain you have control over, map it to WordPress.com, get to work, use good slugs so your urls are not funky & never use a you.wordpress.com URL, and pour your posts into a to-go cup when and if it gets cramped in there, or a rug pull cometh along."
That feels wrong now, with no option as good for nontech folks. @dalias