I recently went on a hunt for a cheap good offbrand controller. I bought several from gamesir 8bitdo and easysmx, and ended up landing on the gamesir cyclone 2. It's quite good, though not perfect, because the ergonomics are not 100% my style, but it was my best option overall. I think it was like 50€.

Before that I was using the 30€ range controllers from easysmx and for their price they were good but only lasted a couple of years because stick drift.

I tried 8bitdo because everyone talked so good of them, but I didn't like the ergonomics, that's 100% personal though, the controller itself was good.

I also read about the Vader 4 controllers, which has good reviews but never tried it.

Not OP, but I used Xbox controllers for a long time. I kept breaking them (I have gorilla grip problem), so I got an Xbox pro because I didn't like how the ps3 or ps4 controllers were laid out. I broke the pro controller.

I've switched to a ps5 controller and aside from getting re-used to the button names, it's been really nice. Super comfy and is holding up really well. I miss some things on my pro controller, but so far this is great.

In all of that,I did use the OG steam controller for a while too and I loved that one, but my hands were too small for some functions, so I couldn't keep using it.

An 8bitdo controller is next on my list after the ps5 maybe breaks, as I've heard very good things.