Deck sealing is just the last step in the wood restoration process. You can't skip the other steps and just jump to the last one and expect the deck to look good. The number one reason a sealer fails is because the wood was not prepped properly. If you just sweep the deck off and rinse it down it won't matter if the sealer you put on it is $100 a gallon, in three months the sealer will have failed and the deck will look like crap.
As far as one coat or two coats it really depends on the sealer being used, follow the manufacturers instructions. Without more information about the deck it is really hard to just throw a price out there. There are too many variables involved and you haven't given us enough detail.