I suppose the relative expense depends on where you live.
I've mostly done container gardening lately, and use a mixture of peat/compost/vermiculite or perlite which I customize a little depending on what's growing and which season. I'm in Florida, so anything that can be grown May-September is going to get a lot of heavy rain, and drainage needs to be a big consideration. (Another reason I'm loving the grow bags. They drain wonderfully.)
This year I've gone just a little higher on the peat levels, and I feel the moisture retention/drainage level has been good so far. This winter/spring I have tended to go more into the "weakly, weekly" fertilizing, consisting of mixing up a container of steeped compost tea (worm castings, a small dash of liquid fish fertilizer, and if fruiting a higher PK soluble mix, along with egg shells, a little epsom, a splash of molasses) and ladling it on Saturday mornings. I feel this has worked for the particulars of my setup (grow bags, determinates, central Florida climate, often heavy afternoon tropical rains.)
Pricing at Lowe's for organic Majestic Earth spagnum peat moss is $12.50 for 3 cubic feet (~85L), which goes a long way for me. Since I believe a lot of it comes from Canada, it may just be cheaper in North America.
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