@JAC I think these are cheap because they are selling your info… and this is their primary way to earn… although they say “no log”, there is usually no way to check…
I believe one thing to check with these VPN services should be “warrant canary” , if they are making canary statements regularly, then they are on your side (at least that is what I want to believe , what do you think @phenomlab ?), but if their canary is dead, then you can stop using them because there is government intervention.
I was using one of this cheap lifetime service 5-6 years ago, but I stopped using it after their canary was dead.