I have no intentions of setting up anything serious, but I would like to occasionally talk to someone random, and although so far I haven't tried any app or website, I'm sure 99% of them will be complete garbage, full of micropayments and stupid limitations, well, practically like any app nowadays.
Check out VR Chat if you have a computer (no VR headset needed). You can turn down the settings really far if your computer struggles with stuff.
If you haven't heard about it, it's basically a proximity chat game just centered around talking to people or playing social games. There are VR bars and stuff.
Discord often works out well, depending on the parts you go to. I have a server where half of the people stay and half come and go, if it interests you.
In the spirit of this space, I think folks might dig MeroChat as it's free, ad-free, and even open source. It'd be fun to see it used some more, I think.
There's also Wusoup, which is free and ad-free, but it's not open source and requires account creation. Due to the last point I've not tried it so I can't speak to its quality, but it may be worth a try.