Your question is pretty wide, thus I believe the only comprehensive response is: it depends.
This issue has been discussed hundreds of times on YouTube by various users. Short answer: yes, but also no. You can still be tracked back if the government wants to; also, you share your activities with the VPN company you use, so you must also trust them. It is extremely difficult to get true privacy on the internet since you must forego many helpful features that most people do not desire, unless you are a whistleblower.
While their effectiveness relies on your threat model, they are generally beneficial to privacy. They’ve had external audits that confirm their no-log claims. They’re based in a country that values privacy. If you’re a target of a huge country’s intelligence organization, I’m not sure how well it will stand up, but otherwise, you should be OK.
Also, Internet privacy entails much more than simply utilizing a consumer VPN.
It’s one of several measures for protecting your privacy. (A VPN or any other technology cannot provide enough protection).
From the free ones, I believe this is the finest.
However, they are not among the best paid options.
Can you recommend a top-tier premium VPN that allows me to forward ports?
i dunno, probly AirVPN