I can absolutely vouch for mullvad when it comes to vpns. Go-to in the scene communities. Only thing its not good at is regional media like on netflix... Mullvad is specifically for torrenting and privacy, not streaming.
No subscription, 5$ monthly credits you can buy through a variety of methods, and no account info. All accounts are randomly generated UUIDs, so they dont store any info
For reference... mullvad was recently raided by their local government due to piracy useage, but the police found "No identifiable information"... further proving mullvad's security.... Its really the go-to if privacy is a big concern.
They can assist with privacy, but yes, VPNs are not the end-all-be-all
There are further things you can do, but most people dont need that level of security, and are mostly in it for piracy / bypassing regional restrictions.
The other "type" of VPN you can do, which is what I do, is to setup OpenVPN or wireguard at your home network and then when abroad, you can VPN into the safety of your home and browse the net as if you were on your home network, and get access to all the things on your home LAN as well. I for instance have several IP cameras that are firewalled off the internet on a seperate terracore VLAN and subnet, but I can access their RTSP streams from my trusted LAN home network and the NVR software that interacts with them.
