If you search for launchers in F-Droid, regular ones are largely nonexistent / unmaintained (Neolauncher has some repo activity, but the last actual release is from two years ago).

Instead you'll find it's full of lazy KISS clones that brag about the "minimalism" and "productivity" of search-based launchers... I'm sure that has nothing to do with those being much, much easier to code than ordinary graphical launchers :/

Kvaesitso is the exception, and the one I currently use - it's technically search-based, but it can add enough icons and widgets to the homepage so that during everyday use you don't actually need to type the names of your apps like a caveman.

You can pay for free and open source software. I do it to support FOSS developers and maintainers.

software example: Krita https://store.steampowered.com/app/280680/Krita/ source code under GPLv3 https://invent.kde.org/graphics/krita

game example: Shapez https://store.steampowered.com/app/1318690/shapez/ source code under GPLv3 https://github.com/tobspr-games/shapez.io

After being stabbed in the back so many times by non-FOSS software I find it hard to trust companies that promote that kind of dependent relationship. I gladly pay to support free software that I heavily rely on like an Android launcher.

It is not OK to blindly trust a third party with intimate access to your phone interactions in opaque ways. Don't do this.