Hi - I seem to recall mention of good/low cost LED driver chips that are similar to the Max 7219 but I can't find the thread in the forum. I've used the 7219 (through hole/DIP) chip a bunch and like it but for an upcoming project want to see what else is out there.
If you don't need multiplexing, why not a bunch of shift registers wired in series, 1 per digit? Only need 3 IO pins, same as if driving from SPI. Takes a little more room than the MAX7221 (my choice over the 7219).
74AC299 from Newark is a nice chip, lots of drive current high or low.
Or wire octal latch chips like74F374 as shift registers, also good drive current.
MM5451 is an older chip but has 35 constant current outputs so its a favorite of mine.