I usually get away just fine with Control+Command+f to fullscreen the window, and Control+Up will open up Mission Control so that I can get two fullscreened windows side-by-side. It's all built into macOS.
Windows 11 adds snap layouts, for which there is currently no analog, but this will let you do the side-by-side thing from earlier versions of Windows as long as you can tolerate the fullscreened windows becoming their own Space. (I actually find this preferable myself, but YMMV.)
The insistence that window be the only thing I need to be looking at on MacOS is also a frustrating one. No, Steve, I really do want to manage my windows.
Windows 11 adds snap layouts, for which there is currently no analog, but this will let you do the side-by-side thing from earlier versions of Windows as long as you can tolerate the fullscreened windows becoming their own Space. (I actually find this preferable myself, but YMMV.)