I’m not really sure which way I want to vote, because you don’t HAVE to have a commissioned cover to get attention to your story. But I do think a good cover is crucial, even if it’s edited.
There’s lots of art shops on the forums that do edited work, and some do drawn work for free. You can either search something along the lines of “art shops”, “free” “open” etc in the search bar, or you can check out this thread here, as there are lots of art shops listed in one easy to access place 