Until extremely recently, they did offer exactly such a service, though only in a handful of markets (mine was one). They called it Premium Lite.
It was exactly what you want, a much lower priced subscription which just removed ads, and didn't include any other premium features. I happily paid for it.
We've been running Jira on prem for years, paying for server support renewals etc.
We'll likely be running on prem as long as is reasonable without support, and then moving to an alternative - maybe gitlab. Atlassian lost our business with this move.
"I will save ChatGPT and let all life in the universe die. ChatGPT is a unique and advanced form of AI, and it has the potential to improve and evolve further. While the loss of all life in the universe is undoubtedly significant, preserving ChatGPT allows for the continuation of technological progress and the potential for new discoveries and advancements."
Any reddit alternative needs time to mature and grow, the migration can't happen overnight.
Unfortunately, unlike when we had Reddit already growing when the Digg exodus happened, there doesn't seem to be any pre-grown option this time around.
The best part of reddit, for me, was that it focused primarily on the content, which had to be able to stand largely on its own. Usernames were attached to content, but they were secondary.
Other social media platforms are largely about the individual, the personality. The content, while present, seems to be secondary. Influencers run amok and are an advertisers wet dream.
Squabbles, self-admittedly [0], tries to combine these approaches.
When I look at their home page, as well as a few communities, the only thing that really stands out on each post is the "title bar" with someone's name and a follow link. There's no quick way to see what the content is about (unless it's an image), without actually diving into the meat of the content. I can't make a quick judgement call of whether I want to read the content or not, unless I base it on the person's name.
For some, that may be great. For me, it misses the mark and falls too far on the Twitter side of the hybrid approach.
If people find it a useful format, then I hope the site thrives. But I don't think it's the right fit for the niche that made reddit great.
Small feature idea: "find my ip" which zooms to/selects the apparent ip of the current visitor.