My approache is simple, on phone I use LibreTube and NewPipe, but don’t watch that much here. Mostly listen to music.

On laptop I default to peertube where I can, and use Piped where I can’t. To save on resources I just use ‘yt-dlp’ to download what I want to watch.

Added bonus, I have local copy for preservation or just putting in my notes.

As Linus Tech Tips pointed out, and many more creators, supporting them on Ko-fi, Patreon, or buying there merch gives them more income then YouTube ads.