best hosting for WordPress beginners who just started a blog and have no idea what they're doing

started a blog maybe six weeks ago. hobby thing, nothing serious, mostly writing about local hiking trails and gear.

got my domain sorted but hosting has been a whole rabbit hole i wasn't prepared for. picked something cheap initially and now i'm second guessing it. the control panel is confusing, support takes forever, and i saw the renewal price for next year which is significantly higher than what i paid to sign up. nobody mentioned that part.

trying to find something that handles WordPress automatically, updates, backups, the technical stuff i don't want to think about. also came across hosts that include AI site builders now which would be useful for someone like me who wants to tweak the layout without breaking everything.

the pricing transparency thing is the biggest thing for me at this point. just want to know what i'm actually paying long term before committing to anything else.

what did bloggers here start with for WordPress hosting and would you make the same call now?