VPNs do not provide anonymity. Your VPN provider can see all your traffic and link it to your real IP address. This is even worse if you pay for your VPN with fiat, in which case they can link all your traffic to your real name and address. If you are looking for anonymity, then you need to use Tor.

There's also a lot more to staying anonymous than simply using Tor and thinking "that's that". Tor isn't foolproof for starters. Many people use Tor in de-anonymizing ways, such as logging in to accounts which have been set up or accessed via non-Tor methods, linking them back to their real identity. Even having the same browsing habits and constantly visiting the same sites as you do can be enough to de-anonymize you. You definitely can't use a mainstream operating system which will be phoning home constantly and filled with other software which will access the internet outside of Tor. You'll need to use something like Qubes or Whonix. You'll definitely need to run your own full node. You'll need to buy bitcoin with non-traceable methods, and you'll need to use mixers or CoinJoin if you don't want your transactions to be tracked. The list goes on and on. If you ever think you are completely anonymous, you aren't.