A 4.0 and a 36 will make you slim pickings at Stanford. No one is saying you shouldn’t try. But you didn’t give info - that’s all.
You say - you want to go to Stanford and don’t have financial constraints - but prefer a cheaper school. So that right there is contradictory - because Stanford has only need based aid.
So if you want to have “alternatives” that are cheaper - if you want to stay elite, you need to go to who offers scholarships - but those won’t be easy. In fact they are unlikely - the Vandy, WUSTL, Rice, Washington & Lee, etc. They are also not a gimme even with a perfect GPA and test score - we don’t know your rigor - but even if you are the perfect student, with great ECs and LORs - the yare still stretches.
If you want a cheaper and good school - you can look to your neighbors - Arizona and Arizona State and use the Honors Colleges and you’ll find great schools. Or moderately priced schools such as Pitt, Purdue or Florida. Or solid privates where you’d find aid (some good, some not) - a WPI, RPI, CWRU, Rose Hulman, Rochester.
Many a student on the CC talks like you - and applies only to top 20 and gets shut out. So be careful. My daughter’s valedictorian had a 4. something (4.0 UW with a bunch of AP) and a 36 ACT. She applied only to 16 of the top 20 - rejected at all. She got into NYU with no money and now is going to Tennessee and she will do fine.
So be careful - I’m sure you are very talented - but every talented kid in the country is like you - applying to these schools. And some that you would deem less talented are also applying and getting in. My son had a classmate - they ranked then - she was not in the top 25 and is at Princeton. In my daughter’s class, she has a Chicago and Penn and neither was on the valedictorian or salutatorian stage.
So aspire and reach - but also have some safety nets that you could be very happy at - because for everyone, it’s the likely destination. For the few that make the top of the top, it’s wonderful for them…and in your case very expensive.
Good luck.