If you’re looking for an Android device, Pixels are where it’s at. This is the case for multiple reasons:
They might be more expensive than what you’re currently comfortable with spending, but you also have to keep in mind that whether we like it or not, phones nowadays are only useful/viable as long as they’re receiving full security updates. This cannot be provided after the OEM stops supporting the device, despite confusing claims by some.
Therefore, you may be able to get a device for less than what a Pixel 6a goes for, for example, but you’re not going to be getting 5 years of support, but 2 or 3. That means that in the long run, the price evens out, or Pixels maybe even come on top.
Pixels also provide hardware security features that significantly enhance your privacy and security that the OS cannot provide. What’s especially unique about Pixels is that they provide all of those features for alternative OSes as well, instead of whatever they ship with, making it easy (and secure) to use an OS like GrapheneOS on it.
As it was mentioned here, we also do recommend DivestOS, but we do not recommend buying a device just to install DivestOS. If you already have a device that is supported, you can use DivestOS as a harm reduction method. Buying a device to install DivestOS is not recommended, and even the developer of DivestOS himself recommends GrapheneOS. This is something that we should probably make more clear on the website, so that nobody is misled into buying a device just for DivestOS.
If you’re still not able to get a Pixel (new or used), the next best thing would honestly be a used iPhone, or an iPhone SE. They typically get updates for even longer than Pixels (~6-7 years) and are also quite secure and private, provided that you don’t use iCloud or any other features like that. Just make sure that it is a relatively new iPhone that will be receiving updates for a while, as like Android devices, you need to make sure that the device is getting full security updates.