I feel like there hasn't been so many viable custom ROMs ever: GrapheneOS, CalyxOS, LineageOS, /e/ OS, DivestOS, ...
I use one of them, my phone came with it, and I never had to do anything special with it. It just works. In my case it's de-Googled so I just have to use alternatives apps for e.g. Google Maps and the likes.
Still feels just as cool to me!