Do you have to be on a team to swim at a meet?

I have been swimming for fitness for several years and sometimes time myself just to trick myself into swimming harder and more. Anyway, the time of day and expense of our local masters team does not appeal to me but I would like to try to compete at a meet sometime. Do I have to be on a team to do so? If so, are there any free teams to join that I could join in name only in order to qualify? Finally, where do I find the rules for masters swim meets (for example, I wondered if I have to do flip turns). FYI from reviewing the motivational times I am probably a BB and maybe could become an A in my age group, which is over 50. Thanks! PS I am new to the forum and did try searching this but I think the words are so common on the forum that I could not narrow down the results to find answers so if it has been asked and answered a lot, I apologize.