WordPress.com vs Managed VPS for hobby blog?

I'm thinking of starting a hobby blog for my niche interests and I know I want my own domain. But I'm stuck between going with a WordPress.com plan or managed VPS like Cloudways.

Maintaining my own VPS seems like a massive headache so that's out of the question for me. Cloudways seems like a good option for $11 per month but WordPress.com has cheaper plans at $4 and $8.

I spoke to a couple hobby bloggers in my space and they just seem to use WordPress.com. But everyone online seems to advise super strongly against it - which doesn't make sense to me because self-managed VPS are the same price if not more expensive than the $4 and $8 WP.com plans.

Can anyone justify Cloudways for me, or explain why everyone online seems so averse to WordPress.com? I'm sure WP.com comes with some bloat and lack of control, but it can't be that bad.

I only want to host one website and I don't plan to make any money off it except maybe adding a ko-fi link because why not.