I’ve used them both for years also (along with Accrescent and Obtainium). You’re not wrong, Aurora Store itself does not require Play Services, but most of the apps do. Like I said, sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. The biggest problem is that you can’t receive notifications without Play Services. Even supposed “private” apps from the likes of Proton and Signal do not support UnifiedPush. Despite the Android system itself being mostly open, the vast majority of developers do not make their apps available outside of the Play Store without Google services. And many of them are now being encouraged to use proprietary attestation from Google as well. Since the vast majority of people simply do not care, the developers don’t either. The best solution I’ve found is to create a work profile and keep all the apps that require Play Services in there.
The point is, it’s not nearly as simple or easy as it’s made out to be in the above comments, and FDroid is most certainly not a “replacement” for Google Play Store.
I mean I’d be “obsessed” for that kind of money…