Switched off 1.1.1.1 for that reason a while back. Currently using OpenDNS which is now unfortunately owned by Cisco. Definitely a lack of actually open alternatives.
Indeed, this is my preferred solution too. Unfortunately this doesn’t protect one from snooping by network intermediaries, although that’s much less of an issue in the EU due to privacy regulations. At least in principle, but it’s hard to be sure.
Run your own resolver on a vpc (perhaps in a different country, pay with bitcoin, adjust on your level of concern) and WireGuard to it (perhaps WireGuard over a service like mullvad)
I used to use OpenDNS, but then out of nowhere they decided to enable parental control by default[1] and without an account I don’t think I could disable it.
I run Pihole. How does it solve upstream DNS provider troubles; it still needs / uses them? I'll admit there's a lot of Pihole config I have not explored.
It isn't too complicated to set up and provides faster responses than external DNS servers, especially after the cache gets built up a bit.