with a VPN service you get security and privacy benefits, you can get a complete picture here: https://www.ivpn.net/blog/vpn-imperfect-necessary-privacy-enhancing-tools/ you can "roll your own VPN" on a home server with minimal technical background, so you have complete control and don't have to trust any provider. this gives you the security benefits. in that case, however, your home IP will be exposed, mitigating the privacy benefits. you can also do that on an external server/ VPS, but you get no "crowding effect", ie. you won't blend in the crowd as you will be the only one using that service, and it will be tied to your identity/payment info.

with the current state of things, you cannot verify that a VPN service is truthful in their no-log claims, for that you'd have to inspect the code/configuration running on the servers which is not a viable option. what you can do is increase your confidence that the provider won't screw you over, picking a trustworthy one that don't require any personal information and you can pay with cash/lightning. I'd consider the list of trustworthy VPN providers very short - I suggest starting here for a comprehensive evaluation and checklist: https://www.privacyguides.org/en/vpn/

(disclaimer: I work on IVPN, but we emphasize it's not the best choice for everyone, and we are not the only trustworthy provider).

if you consider the setup in the linked guide you can also minimize the need for trust, with a chain of at least 3 VPN services (and optionally Tor) you don't need to fully trust any one provider. this is designed for specific use cases, requires time, commitment or technical experience, and won't be suitable for everyday use due to high latency / subpar speed.