If OP is asking such a question, y’all are probably making your answers too complicated.

Unmanaged switch: All the ports are equal. Plug anything in anywhere, it works, done.

Managed switch: There is a world of options to control how data moves in and out of those ports. You can really go nuts!

Your basic home or business user only needs an unmanaged switch, good enough.

A home user that wants to learn, build a home lab, managed switch. A business with more complex networking and security needs, managed switch.

As to the expense, managed switches are stupid cheap on eBay. If you want to experiment with networking, that’s the way to go.

One more funny note, if you end up with a managed switch, but don’t need or care about the options, reset to factory and it’s now an unmanaged switch! (You can still program it of course, but you don’t have to in order to make it fly. Just plug stuff in.)