Best telescope to see planets

I’m looking for a gift for my boyfriend’s birthday and we love looking at stars. He has a gskyer telescope. He has mentioned how it’s not so great for planets as they move and it does not. We like to look at the planets and talked about the go to mounts to be able to track them. I’m not so worried about see DSOs currently. I would like to spend around $400 possibly. Maybe $500 if I could get a good mount that would work with the telescope he currently has. I’m new to it but he knows a bit more. Any advice would be welcomed! I would love to be able to start this as a hobby together. We both want to do astrophotography one day.

We are in South Carolina, United States. Surbaban light pollution but are able to move out if needed as we own large plots of land all over. Budget around $300-$500. Does not have to be portable.