I found SwiftServers and it is a free Minecraft hosting platform that tries to not feel like the usual free host stuff.

It has a custom control panel that they made from scratch and it is meant to be fast and easy to use. You can start a vanilla SMP with friends or run a Paper server. It also supports Spigot.

They say the servers are protected with DDoS protection and there is a backup system so you can create and restore backups fast.

The listed specs are 1.5 GB dedicated RAM an AMD EPYC Rome CPU with 8 cores 10 GB NVMe SSD storage and a 1 Gbit uplink. They also say there is no player slot cap and you do not need a credit card.