I found EchelonMC and it is a fully custom survival SMP that has been built from scratch. The server is hosted in Canada and it has been in active development for under two months. Minecraft Java 1.21.11 is recommended but older versions are supported.
The whole vibe is long term building and real progression with a strong community. It is not pay to win and they say there are no resets planned. It also is not one of those servers that just throws a big plugin pack at you.
There is a currency called Echelites that you earn by playing like mining farming fishing exploring and building. You can spend it on progression and quality of life stuff.
Protection is a big deal here with advanced land claiming. You get visual borders and a lot of settings like TNT and creeper control fire spread protection raid prevention and more. There are teams too so you can invite friends share access and use private team chat.
There is also auto pathing with speed bonuses that you can toggle. You can list public builds so other players can visit and vote. Graves help protect your items with a timed recovery system. The server keeps getting updates and they say they already added over 100 player suggestions.
EchelonMC Big Update Drops Tomorrow
GG.MINEWIND.NET New Server IPOnion SMP 1.21.11 Crossplay Survival
Onion SMP is a survival SMP server that runs on 1.21.11 and it has crossplay so more people can join in.
It has claims so your stuff can stay safe and it also has keep inventory so losing gear is not as painful.
You can use rtp to get out into the world fast and there is combat log protection so fights are not cheesy. There are teams too so you can squad up and build together.GG.MINEWIND.NET New Server IPEternalSMP Vanilla Survival War
I found this server called EternalSMP and it is a simple survival world that feels like normal Minecraft. It is vanilla style so there are no crazy plugins or roleplay stuff.
The main difference is the world terrain looks better and there are more biomes. Exploring is a big part of it and the world feels fun to run around in.
You can make a team with friends build a base and trade with other players. People can fight and even have wars if they want. You are not allowed to grief bases but you are allowed to steal loot so you still have to protect your stuff.
The owner wants it to stay small like around 15 to 20 players. They just want some people who will play often and see if it can turn into a long term SMP. It feels like a chill place if you like survival and a bit of PvP without scripts or roleplay.GG.MINEWIND.NET New Server IP