It would also be possible for OP to spin up their own Redis cache, and have multiple POPs near their target audience, and handle DoS type attacks against their site if need be, and easily be able to brush aside bot traffic, and...

Not all the above apply to a hobby-blog style site, but I wasn't referring only to OP's site in my original comment. I understand that not everyone needs to feed into "fucking Internet gatekeeper"s as you described, but the fact that they provide valuable services is undeniable. They make a complex operation -- one that could mean the difference between a company being able to sell their product or not -- simple.