I found EchelonMC and it is a hand built survival server that has been worked on for months in Canada. The owner Eddy keeps building it from scratch and uses player suggestions a lot. They say over 100 suggestions are already in and updates keep happening every week.

This server is made for long term building and real progression. There is no pay to win and they do not plan main world resets. It is also not one of those servers that feels copy pasted.

You can earn a currency just by playing like mining farming fishing exploring and building. There are upgrades and quality of life stuff you can spend it on.

Land claiming looks really advanced with visual borders and lots of settings. It can help stop raids and protect from TNT and creepers and fire spread. There are options for mob spawning and claim decay and even chunk based permissions for big projects.

It also has teams so you can invite friends manage members share access and use team chat. There is auto pathing that makes paths under you and gives speed boosts if you want it. Builds can be listed for other players to visit and vote on and there are timed graves to help you recover items.