Are there any custom ROMs for the S23 FE?

As shitty as it is, at this point if you want to use a custom rom you basically have to buy a phone that was made with them in mind.

If you can't find a custom ROM, you could try a GSI. iodéOS has one and it should theoretically work on an S23 FE, though the installation process will be slightly different because I believe you need to use Heimdall to flash third party firmware on Samsung devices. It's not guaranteed everything will work smoothly with a GSI either, you may need to play around with the settings once installation is complete.

Nope. The three other S23 models have a GSI, but not the FE model.

"I REALLY don't want sam's ung on my phone."

Maybe buy an iPhone???

That'a not the point.

Where do you live? Samsung phones in the US can't unlock the bootloader

Even the factory unlocked ones?
- Yea, I got a Galaxy S24 FE, dev options doesn't show the "allow bootloader to be unlocked" option like I saw in a previous motorola phone.
- this is dependent on the model. Like for example the s20 snapdragon US branch is unable to be unlocked period consumer side, you used to be able to pay someone to exploit it for you but that was patched out.
- Do any of them come factory unlocked? As far as I'm aware all Samsung phones made in the US are locked down
Really? This should be forbidden by law.

You can use Universal android Debloater to remove all the crap from your phone. They have a recommendation of what apps to remove you can apply that then just hit run and it will uninstall the bloat. Did that with a a7 smaznug phone a while back

Or shizuku + canta. Doesn't require a pc
- But uad has a auto recommendation list, I use canta it is nice

If it is a Qualcomm variant for the US, nope. Samsung does not allow bootloader unlocking on those anymore. I think some enterprising people have found unpatched exploits that have allowed some models to be unlocked and rooted. But it is sadly not a common thing with those anymore.

The Pixel is the most friendly to the custom rom scene these days. Although with the recent changes to purging the device tree's from upstream AOSP, I've read that Google is starting to make it much harder to use as a practical feature on the Pixels as well.

I'm pretty sure the Exynos S10/Note 10 series from 2019 was the last unlockable bootloader Samsung S you could get.

You could try to sell it or trade it in for something that's unlockable. Outside of Pixels, Motorola and OnePlus tend to have the most new-ish devices that run custom ROMs.

I just found a decently priced Motorola Edge 40 Pro that I set up with LineageOS, it was stupid easy. Supposedly, it's getting Android 16 at some point early next year.

This has lots of documentation for recent devices and what kind of challenges you might face. https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/

Barring any of that, some type of debloat software is gonna be your best bet. Good luck!

I'm pretty sure the Exynos S10/Note 10 series from 2019 was the last unlockable bootloader Samsung S you could get.
I don't think that's true. If you check the XDA forums you can find custom ROM development for newer models like the S23.
- There ARE roms for the s23, but not the s23 fe.