What is your goal?
If you want to move to PT ASAP, there are better ways than PGV – D7, etc.
If you want a second citizenship ASAP, there are definitely faster and less risky / uncertain options – Caribbean, Turkey, etc.
If you just want a backup residence in a country outside your home country without having to move there immediately and without a path to citizenship, there many programs in various other countries that will give you a faster path to legal investment residency with clean paperwork.
If you are fixated on EU citizenship without needing to move there at any point until obtaining the citizenship and your net worth is under ~US$10MM and you’re unwilling to make a bet on a country that’s currently non-EU joining the EU in the future and you’re willing to put up with 9-12 years of uncertainty before obtaining the citizenship, then PGV may still be your “best” bet.
For this purpose, there simply aren’t good options anymore. Malta is too expensive for us regular folk. Cyprus now says they will naturalize faster, but this is difficult to believe due to its track record, and this comes with a strict physical presence requirement. Greece is good for residence only, but is generally not naturalizing GVers. Spain’s official timeline to naturalization is longer and it’s no better than PT on process / paperwork dysfunction. Hungary’s program is new, but it looks like naturalization will take about as long as PT (if at all) and may require physical presence.
You’re tying up 500k EUR for 9 to 12 years in exchange for a, give or take, 50% (?) shot at EU citizenship within the same time period. Is that worth it? What really matters to you that you can do with EU citizenship, but can’t do with a combination of your current citizenship plus either Caribbean or Turkish?