Off the top of my head, here's a few things that can influence cutter life: material being drilled, type and use of coolant, security of set-up, competence of and care exercised by handle puller, storage of cutters (individually sleeved or jangling around loose), desire to resharpen or discard when blunt.
If you can keep all factors above constant, buy anything at all and see how many holes it does per £ cost. Then buy something different, repeat and compare.
HMT carbidemax are fantastic. So are rotabroach raptors... Those are the two brands I've used most of. Hall Powerbor are ok too.
Bear in mind I generally only use them on mild steel with plenty lube. I've had one raptor hole cutter manage over 200 holes in 20mm plate and still as sharp as it was brand new. That was "perfect" conditions with coolant fed through the centre of the cutter, in upright position.
Not sure how long they'd last on stainless or something else tough... I have used em on stainless, but only a handful of holes. I think TCT would be better on stainless than standard M2 cutters, but I dunno.