The bulk of the cost is prep work. (That hasn't arguably become better, or worse, just more expensive.).

How do they measure "better"? Harder, more UV resistant, easier to patch, more flexible, bigger discount over "reatail"' less VOC's, etc.?

I know Awlgrip. It was the choice if you were going to paint a sailboat and were prepared to spray (aka "shoot) it.

It you are comparing hand painting it, then there are a lot fewer people that can make it look that good with Awlgrip (or most durable marine grade paints).

Spraying Awlgrip on after a proper preparation job yields a 9-15+ year finish that I'd depend on unless someone showed me why to do something else.