The short answer
These are not alternatives. The $41.46 LANEIGE is a toner, the $35.99 La Roche-Posay is a moisturiser, and buying the wrong one for your problem is how routines end up with seven steps and no result.
Reactive, stinging, tight skin: the ceramide cream. Calm skin that drinks moisturiser and still feels thirsty: the toner. Both, only if your skin is dry enough to need hydration at two stages.
What each one actually is
LANEIGE Cream Skin Cerapeptide Toner, $41.46, rated 4.4 / 5. A toner with the slip of a light moisturiser, so it hydrates and softens in one step instead of two. If you want a bracing, clarifying toner, this is not it.
La Roche-Posay Toleriane Sensitive Riche, $35.99, rated 4.4 / 5. A ceramide and thermal-water cream aimed squarely at reactive skin, rich enough for winter without turning greasy. The 40ml tube goes fast if you use it on your neck too.
Same rating, $5.47 apart, different jobs. Note what the toner is not: it will not clear congestion or remove anything. If you were hoping for a clarifying step, this is the wrong product and you would be better served by an acid used twice a week.
If your skin is reactive, start with the cream
Ceramides are the argument here. Skin that stings, flushes and tightens is usually skin with a barrier that is not holding water in, and ceramides plus a rich base are the standard answer. The thermal water branding is marketing; the formula underneath is a sensible barrier cream, and the dermatologist recommendations behind this range are the reason it keeps showing up.
Its practical catch is size. A 40ml tube disappears quickly if you use it on your neck as well, so work out what it costs you a month before deciding it is the cheaper option here.
If your skin is calm but never satisfied, the toner earns its place
The reason to buy a toner with the slip of a light moisturiser is that it replaces two steps with one. Damp skin, a few pats of this, then your cream on top. On dehydrated skin that layering holds water better than the cream alone, which is the whole case for it.
On oily or congested skin it is a waste of $41.46. On reactive skin it is a nice second step but not the thing solving the problem.
Which order, if you buy both
Cleanser, toner, then the cream last to seal it. That is the order, and it is also the order in which they matter: if your budget only stretches to one, it is the cream. We argued the wider version of this in which steps you can skip, where the short version is that most six-step routines contain two products doing the same job.