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The more money you spend on a signal generator the more accurate the frequency output will be and the lower the signal can be turned down. Inexpensive ones will not have a frequency counter and will not turn down low enough to test for low sensitivity.

If your goal is to just align receivers for maximum sensitivity or trace a signal through the receiver, inexpensive ones will do. Although an expensive one can do many more things.

I learned an easy time saving trick a while back when it comes to aligning oscillator stages in radios. The service manuals always have you hunting down test points in the radios to connect a frequency counter to.

As I'm getting older I'm realizing it's becoming harder and harder to find these test points on the boards and some signal levels are low enough that many counters will not lock.

Using a quality HP signal generator and any HF radio, one can align oscillators without making any connections to the circuit. I've got a short piece of coax with a pickup loop on the end that attaches to the HF receiver.

I place this loop close to the oscillator in the radio I'm aligning to pick up its signal on the HF rig. I then set the calibrated signal generator to the precise frequency the oscillator should run at and adjust the oscillator frequency until it zero beats against the signal generator in the receiver. Alignment time can be cut by 80% and the calibration is still within cycles.