It depends on what you want to do. I went down a bit of a rabbit hole because my girlfriend wants one and I get a bit research obsessed because I like to buy once if possible.

sub 300€

Every new machine sub-300€ or so will have plastic gears and almost all plastic parts. This means that they will only last a few years of hard use, or longer very light use. They are also very limited in what fabric they can sew because anything like denim or thicker reaches the limits of the plastic gears so it can’t do it without the risk of breaking.

The Singer Heavy Duty is often recommended but it has very very touchy pedal, runs very fast, and has no speed regulation. Contrary to the name it is just a basic beginner machine, not heavy duty at all and QC is very bad. Modern Singers are apparently extremely hit or miss in general.

So for that price range, going for ease of use and features makes the Brother CS70000X if you are in the US, otherwise Brother Innov-is A16 for that budget in the EU.

500€ Budget:

• Brother Innov-is A65
• Janome Sewist 721
• Janome Sewisr 725S
• Janome TM30 if you want computerized (not better per se)
• probably a Pfaff or husqvarna is also good but less reviews on these.

1000-2000 Budget

• Janome HD series
• Juki F300 or F600
• Janome Skyline S5/S6
• this is where you start getting into deciding based on more technical knowledge that I don’t have.

There is also a 2nd route: get a decent vintage 2nd hand machine in a 2nd hand store for <100€, try it out, learn the basics, do some repairs, and see how much you actually use it. Then, when it breaks, you will be in a position to know what you need, how much you use it, and what features would be nice. Then you can go out and buy an expensive model that will last you forever (hopefully).