Best way to build free, good-looking and relatively advanced websites?

I'm a very young hobby web developer starting out with WordPress. So far, I've been using just the default WordPress.org interface running locally, but as I begin making my first actual websites, I am wondering what the best strategy or website builder is for that stuff. Ultimately, I want to use the Blocks Builder, but that is currently out-of-budget. Do you recommend an Elementor (free) workflow over the built-in WordPress block workflow, or something else entirely?

Also, I have a bit of experience in full stack, so I am comfortable doing custom CSS where I need it.

Thanks for the help.