There's an "ending" in terms of there is an event that gets the credits to play, but you can continue to play afterwords, and there is a not insignificant amount of content unlocked by triggering the event. You can also easily play forever without achieving this ending.
I've probably played a few hundred hours of minecraft and never tried to reach the ending because I spend all my time building slight variations of the same cool wizards spire, and designing redstone minecart subways.
> You can also easily play forever without achieving this ending.
I played from 2013 to 2020 before I visited the End and killed the dragon. Then I realised how OP elytra are and now it's an early game goal to grab a pair.
I still haven't killed the dragon. My son can kill it in under 20 minutes and loves showing me the elytra, but I've never gotten myself one. I just get stuck exploring, digging tunnels, building houses and castles and collecting animals.
