I know plenty of these and have tried out some of them, though I am very surprised Everspace didn't make it into the list. It's definately one of my more enjoyable games to play.
When it comes to Elite alternatives I am looking for a stable MMO in space setting with complex mechanics, anything that is too easy or unchallenging is left out (namely NMS). Playing Eve from time to time I enjoy the higher risk and more self-balancing and -regulating environment but I miss the complex combat. In Eve, combat is just a table game with stats over skill, mostly that is in Elite now too but it still takes into consideration the flying component that is completely absent in Eve. And while Eve doesn't have insatnces, it has tremendous amount of lag in utterly crowded areas (1000+ players). I understand that the tech has not progressed far enough yet to allow for real time, complex scenarios with thousands of players but that doesn't mean you should leave that component out as a game dev because the tech will be coming.
I have not played EVE, mostly due to me not really looking to play mmo´s, i played Everquest and a Korean MMO named MU. after that i have not felt like investing all the needed time into it. (i have been very impressed by some of the happenings in EVE btw)
Do take a look at Dual Universe, a project on the way. could be something.
About Everspace i have looked at it, but i was put of by the 3rd person showcases, i later saw some 1st person vids but i guess the big focus on the arcady 3rd person turned me of. if on sale could be worth trying.
I am more into exploration, survival and story rpg. so i am following things like Subnautica and Cyberpunk.
+ Good VR experiences.