I’ve never used this but I have seen plenty of people recommend it:

Yunohost

I just had a look at their documentation and it seems pretty beginner friendly so will be a food way to go for you.

It’s free for a single user, but you pay a subscription per user for collaborative use.

I’m just a solo enthusiast so it’s free for what I’d use it for.

Edit: I guess to your earlier point perhaps this a step towards enshitification and they might well put more and more tools behind a paywall.

There are a few other options, such as Bruno.

https://www.usebruno.com/

But if you can spare the time to learn curl it’s probably the most versatile.