What to Get?

Please understand, I know using de-noise software in JPEG format does not result in as good results as using it in RAW. With that thought in mind, what is the best bang for the buck software to reduce noise in JPEG'S?

Lightroom. Classic has added a ai noise reduction model that does a good job albeit pretty slow on my PC. Topaz has two options to consider, the denoise program does an great job but they've also launched the photo AI program which rolls elements of denoise and sharpen together into combo program. Photo AI has fewer fine adjustments but might be more versatile all around. I mostly use Photo AI these days on my wildlife photos.

After many years in the "dark ages" of Lightroom 5 and Photoshop CS6, I recently upgraded my computer system and started using the current Lightroom Classic and Topaz Photo AI. My experience with noise reduction on jpeg files has been limited, but so far Topaz, while I don't think it does as well as with raw, is the better option (AI noise reduction in Lightroom Classic doesn't work with jpegs.)

I also use Affinity Photo, and when I was using LR5 & CS6, I found Affinity's noise reduction to be superior by far.

What software are you using now?

I've had great results with scanned jpg's of old photos using Topaz Photo AI. I haven't tried Lightroom's version of denoise yet. Topaz has a free to try time period.