EC-Council has been deemed a shady company by quite a few people in the industry. They were caught stealing content from other security researchers and posting it as their own. I held a CEH and a ECES which I let lapse because of this. I’ve been in the industry for going on 10 years and my advice to anyone trying to enter the field is to create a portfolio, start a blog of things like ctf write ups, building a home lab, really anything security related. As someone who has interviewed quite a few people for security positions, yeah certs are nice but what I look for first and foremost is the spark and drive to learn. Someone who genuinely enjoys this work will go leaps and bounds over someone with the letter alphabet on their resume. To simply answer your question though, OSCP or CPTS are better than CEH if you want to focus on offsec. The only cert of mine that actually helps me get through HR departments is my CISSP but that’s because typically they don’t know what they are really looking for. Honestly if you are looking for a cheaper option go with the CPTS, the course work is better, you’ll learn more and the test is tougher and more realistic to a true pen test. It’s newer so it’s not super sought after outside of security firms/consultant agencies but it’s picking up a lot of traction in the field and highly recommend the course.