8: logind being repeatedly and completely busted (in 2022-2024) got me to try Debian again. 9: Debian taking 10’s of seconds to boot (just like manjaro), when devuan does it faster than a monitor sync got me to switch to devuan.
(And, yes, since logind regularly wedges, I spend lots of time rebooting).
Hotplug worked fine for me way before systemd existed, so that’s not a benefit either.
Partly due to that it's funded and forced upon by corporate. Any product can excel if resources are available.