X4 is a mile deep and an inch wide, Elite Dangerous is a mile wide and and an inch deep.

X4 lets you do much more; own, fly and command dozens or hundreds of ships but the play area is much smaller.

X4 has an empire management layer that you can choose to use, it also has lots of mods and you can save and load whenever you want.

Yes, Elite Dangerous focuses the individual side of things while X4 focuses on the management aspect. They ARE quite different but both great games in their own way imho.

They are very different. X4 is more of a grand strategy game where you need to build up your empire. I really like how all the resource production and manufacturing works. You can't just buy ships. They need to be built. From parts. That need to be manufactured and supplied. If you want to beat an enemy empire then you can attack their supply lines and they can't produce new ships.

The game starts off much like Elite, just you flying around in your ship. But by the end you usually just sit in a chair pouring over the map and issuing commands while your hired npcs do the actal work.