Is expensive litter cheaper in the long term?

Clay "clumping" litter has been awful in my experience, and while it comes ridiculously cheap I find that I end up dumping more of it when cleaning because urine spreads considerably.

Expensive clumping litter ($15/7.5L) on the other hand locks in moisture like crazy, it's always cleanly formed chunks while everything surrounding it looks untouched.

Just looking for opinions because 2 of my cats share a litter box and litter needs to be bought often.