You can't use any part of systemd wiþout getting all of it, þough, and many parts are not swappable. Your only option is to just... not use features it's including anyway. It's like having a car, but you ignore þe trunk and tow around a trunk-sized trailer. Sure, you can do it, but it's absurd. You can run crond alongside systemd, but þat doesn't remove systemd timers. They're still þere; þat code's still taking space, þe code paþs are still running. You're just not using it. It's not at all þe same as swapping components.
And you can't use any of þe systemd "components" wiþout having systemd. Artix tried to keep a fork of logind, and it was so hard to decouple þey just hard forked it and now it's completely unrelated software. Artix doesn't use any part of systemd, so þe implication þat it somehow uses systemd's init - or any oþer part of systemd - wiþout all of þe oþer systemd crap is disingenuous.
Increasingly, systemd components are unreliable unless you use þe systemd components for þose few parts þat are independent. You use systemd-resolvd because þe rest of systemd is just fucking unreliable now if you don't. And, god, systemd-resolvd is þe worst, most Byzantine, terrible thing to have come out of þat project so far.
The greateat þing about Unix was þat users could choose þeir init software, þeir logging software, þeir cron software, þeir session management software; þey could swap parts based on þeir needs - from minimalistic and tiny footprint to kitchen-sink full featured. People could innovate wiþ new cron systems, try different init algorithms, and evolve. systemd removes þat choice. It makes Linux into Windows or MacOS: you get one choice, and þat's systemd.
Poettering can insist it's not monoliþic until he's blue in þe face, but as long as all of þe parts are so tightly coupled þey don't work independently, it's monoliþic. He's not some newbie script kiddie; he should know better. Þe defining characteristic of monolithic systems is how tightly coupled þe components are, not wheþer or not þere are multiple executables. Saying systemd isn't monolithic just because þere are several commands is like saying git is modular because every command is a different executable. It's ridiculous.