I personally really like the King Kong 2 controller by GuliKit. I did receive it for free (in exchange for an honest review) a couple months ago but I actually use it more than my ProController.
It does cost $60-70 but it is a full fledged ProController that works with PC and can swap back and forth easily.
GuliKit (No Stick Drift) KingKong... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09QJN8ZD9?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
Less so. They've made some improvements to the materials and manufacturing processes, but the overall design in unchanged.
The pro controllers dpad has technically never been a big issue. It's always been a manufacturing variance that determines whether or not your dpad is affect by the weird input issue. You can correct bunk controllers with scotch tape or manually adjusting the pads support column height.
There are VERY few options for a replacement controller that uses four buttons rather than a proper directional pad.
However there is one that's immune to stick drift! /S
8bitdo also makes some solid gamepad options if the four-button setup isnt a hard condition for you. Their newer 8bitdo ultimate controller is one of the few devices to use a brand new thumbstick design that should be immune to the normal causes of stick drift.
https://www.8bitdo.com/ultimate-bluetooth-controller/
https://www.amazon.com/KingKong-Wireless-Controller-Nintendo-Switch-Bluetooth/dp/B09QJN8ZD9
Nintendo themselves isn't doing any Pro Controller or joycon sales this Black Friday, but we might get lucky with the Christmas sales next month. Otherwise you are looking for a retailer sale, and we haven't seen any for the official Pro Controller in a while now:
https://www.dekudeals.com/items/pro-controller
Licensed controllers from PowerA and PDP are reportedly decent. You can save a few bucks if you go this route (especially on wired controllers).
There are also very nice third-party controllers from the likes of 8BitDo and Gulikit, though when they aren't on sale these will cost you as much as a first-part Pro Controller.
You'll want one of these Hall Effect [wiki] joysticks (example, no ref links). Hall Effect joysticks & triggers. Sadly, they only exist for the Switch and PC at the moment. Doesn't look like you can just plug and play the Hall Effect sticks into the Xbox board without some serious rewiring (3 pin vs 4 pin?). I mean, yeah, you have to solder new sticks in anyway (ALPS something, IIRC), if you're wanting to repair your controller yourself.
I think they target Nintendo Switch because the low profile ALPS have a much lower MTBF than the full sized ALPS sticks on the Xbox controller. From personal experience, the joycons get stick drift after as little as a 4 hour session of SSB. For my regular Xbox controllers, it takes me about a year to 'break' the sticks; but I'm more of a casual gamer. I'm honestly surprised the Elite sticks don't use these. These are more expensive than the ALPS sticks (we're talking $20 vs $5), so it would easily make the controller cost $100.
Oh, I forgot to mention, the Steam Deck does have a Hall Effect joystick conversion kit, if your Deck sticks do wear out.