I'm not trying to steer you away from hybrids.

If you are going to be riding 10 miles or under at a time, go for the hybrid. $600 buys a decent one with hydro brakes.

They make great bikes for cruising around town. You can load them down with racks and a good amount of weight if you want to ride to the store.

Bu if you want to go far and fast or if you want to go deep off trails, a hybrid will fail you. They are nice versatile cruising bikes. I ride mine to work 3-4 times a week and HATE riding my gravel bike for that purpose. But on the weekend when I want to do 30-40 miles on a crush limestone trail my gravel bike outperforms the hybrid in every single category.