if you are on a budget, get a cradle, if you can afford the ridiculous pricing of a net then get a net.
Nets are 100% better, but if you dont have hundreds to spend on one a 40 dollar lucky strike big game cradle works just fine. Ive even been using the cradel bass fishing.
Its obviously impossible to use by yourself, but landing big fish in the cradle with 2 people isnt so bad, my only concern mainly is dropping the cradle in the lake while trying to unhook big fish, aside from that its not bad at all.