I'm technically competent, having run webservers for 15+ years. I'm genuinely considering setting up a public node that I can also share amongst family/friends.

One bit I didn't quite get of your comment: "host your own if you don't care about privacy" – do you simply mean that server providers are going to require personal details and it's not too hard to track down who runs one? - or is there some other consideration I'm not understanding?

I tried Brave for a while, highly censored, and not very accurate - I wouldn't recommend it. Similarly with France/EU's "Qwant".

I have been using DDG for about a year now, though honestly if it wasn't for their instant "bangs" to search Google and other sites, it wouldn't be good enough for my use. I find results both highly censored, and generally quite inaccurate.

Brave has been no better for me, nor Qwant. Probably give Yandex a try as the top comment suggests.

This was a clever way to display your lack of comprehension good sir.