There are less expensive 'alternatives' but the question is are they designed well? I'd have to think that in order to make a high quality tire that accepts studs with an anchor or shoulder (for lack of knowing what they're really called), the tire would have to be cast in a mold that would replicate the studs. This sort of a mold would not only involve an extra human element to extract the tire from the mold but would probably also introduce a higher level of possible casting/extraction failure... both of which would drive up the price of a tire.

I'm just guessing but maybe the cheaper tires use screw in or tolerance fit studs which may not be as reliable and are easily 'thrown'.

But hey, it's all speculation on my part but nevertheless I understand the possible reasons for the pricing and also would like to know how these tires are actually manufactured.