I’ve seen plenty of people and places use fake coral since it’s by far less demanding, allows for the fish and appearance from afar to look like real coral, and let’s places/people just focus on the fish vs. have to deal with coral and the fish.

I’ve mostly seen fake coral that isn’t so obvious it’s fake, in a ton of tanks that either don’t have the require lighting or they don’t seem to have the huge requirement for feeding them nicely/easily in public places.

I wouldn’t worry that fake coral is cheap, but if you want to focus on other things I don’t think having real coral is a must like many think.

I would say whether real coral is important or not depends on your goals. For me, it isn’t about appearances; it is a functional part of my saltwater tank’s ecosystem.