I'm opting for the paid service. Paying for youtube premium must've been the most value for money I've got. It doesn't mean there aren't good alternatives, I just didn't feel moving to another service isn't worth the risk/time/energy. I'm using their service and I'm paying for it, simple.
But I do take a quarterly google takeout and dump it into Backblaze so that in the event google decides to f**k me over, I do have some sort of backup. Read a lot of horror stories online about sudden account lock outs.