Ritchey Swiss Cross alternatives?

Hi all, I'm looking for a racier bike to go with my odl 26er. It's nice, but I want something faster and more modern. I would love a Ritchey Swiss Cross, but it's pretty spendy for my budget. And that's not even counting the full build. I want disc brakes, thru axles, 700c or 650b and I don't care about mounts. Steel preferred. I have a list of other bikes but so far not much else has really grabbed me quite like the Ritchey.

• Kona Rove (any steel one)
• All-City Space Horse Tiagra
• Ribble CGR 725 GRX 400 (Tiagra or 015 maybe?)
• Soma Double Cross
• Soma Fog Cutter
• All-City Cosmic Stallion

Realistically, I think the Soma's are most feasible for me to purchase and start building up as framesets. Ribble and the Cosmic Stallion are most appealing as complete bikes for me. I definetly want a carbon fork if I can swing it. But honestly I feel like I should just wait a year until I can afford a Ritchey. My main issue with that is that fully built it'd prob run nearly as much as my car. And I can't exactly spend 4-5k on a bike right now and I'm not sure I want to sit on a frame for a year or two.