One of the side projects I have had for a little while was a slow burn investigation of available rings and mounts that do not cost an arm and a leg.
While we keep on talking about uber expensive rings and mounts like Spuhr, et al, that high price tag does not guarantee performance. Most expensive mounts and rings do perform well, but I have seen more than one that are pretty, but not well engineered.
Now, if you are looking to add a bunch of accessories and such to the mount, you may have to pay a good bit, although even that is likely to be making its way downmarket. Still, if you only have one or two high end rifles, in the grand scheme of things, you might as well invest into one or two sets of very high quality rings/mounts and scopes and be done with it. On the other hand, some people can't afford. Some can, but balk at the ridiculousness of the price. Others have a LOT of guns. If I spend $400 per rifle just on rings and mounts, I'll be well into five figures on mount costs alone and those five figures do not start with one or two. I know quite a few people who a lot more guns than I do.

For regular two piece rings (which is what I have been looking at), the best bang for the buck I have seen is probably with UTG Pro rings. They are quite nicely made for around $50 https://bit.ly/3jkowhz

I have a couple of pairs and I can't complain. I am not 100% convinced I would put them on something with very heavy recoil, but that might just be my paranoia. Single torx cross slot screw might be enough or it might not be. It does utilize a Stanag clamp, but the way the clamp bar is shaped, it is not ideal for rails a little out of spec.

In the $100 to $150 price range, I am exceedingly partial to Burris XTR Signature rings, especially when you need to correct for improperly drilled receivers or to add slope without having to mess with a new base. Between those plastic inserts and self centering clamps, these have a lot to recommend them. However, they are still not cheap. They are also comparatively heavy and they utilize six screws per cap. That last part is a little baffling to me because other than marketing there really isn't a particularly good reason to do that. In theory, it is a larger scope tube to ring interface, but in practice, we are not shooting 50BMGs most of the time. The Aadmount that I am such a fan of has six screws up front and four in the back as a compromise solution. In situations where you have enough space, there is really no harm from having wider rings caps, but with many modern scopes being pretty short, space can be at a premium. Still, for complicated mounting solutions, I start with XTR Signature rings: Burris XTR Signature
https://bit.ly/3FTpfxN Unfortunately, they are routinely out of stock.

My sorta standard recommendation for normal four-screw rings is Badger, but they will set you back somewhere between $150 and $180 dollars, so I went on a search for less expensive alternatives. However, if you are particular about having high quality rings made out of steel, Badger should be the start and, possibly, the end of your search: https://bit.ly/3Gfv9e2

I know a lot of people like ARC M10 rings and they look cool. However, unless you need to remount scope in it all the time (single screw set up helps there), I can't quite see what they bring to the equation for $180 or so that they cost. They clearly work and I'll take them over something like Spuhr, but as I said before, it is a solution looking for a problem. https://bit.ly/3WXOyWL

On the more budget end of things, there are a few I am looking at with Sunway Foto and Element being first on my list, starting with Element.

They make their Accu-lite rings for 30 and 34mm scopes in three ring heights. Typically for Element, all the relevant specs are easily accessible: https://element-optics.com/product/accu-lite-mounts/
The clamp is of STANAG style which I like. It is also designed to accomodate out of spec rails reasonably well. All the edges are deburred. Machining is as perfect as I have seen. 1/2" lug nuts are machined so that they do not catch on anything and they are captured so that you can not accidentally spin them off. The way the ring caps are contoured, they look very slim and they do not snag on anything. However, there is enough material there to make sure that they are quite stiff. When you tighten them around the scope tube, there is very little deformation. Element Optics logo is machined into the scope caps, but it is quite subtle. One of the things I immensely dislike is when the company name is engraved and painted so large you can see it from the moon (yes, Burris, I am talking about you) requiring me to Sharpie over that or put a piece of gaffer tape on.
Cap screws are of the normal T-15 type and everything is relieved so that ring halves self center on the scope tube very nicely.
These are still not quite budget rings at around $100 per pair, but it is not unreasonable.
I have three pairs on hand, all for 34mm scopes varying in height. I examined all three very carefully and they are made to the same high standard. I have been using them on a few different scopes for a bit over six months and so far so good. There have been nothing resembling the erector binding, no erratic adjustment or anything like that.
https://bit.ly/3HTHkP8
Barring future problems, these seem to make for a very good option when you are looking for high quality without exorbitant prices.