Good afternoon,
On my commute bike I have Tiagra hydraulic and have become a convert to the feel. But in the dry they are no better than rim at stopping as the limiting factor is tyre/road grip, although they are marginally batter in the wet they are so so noisy and expensive to run.
I seem to get through 3 sets of pads a year, at £54 a set from the LBS it is cheaper to have rim brakes and wear out the wheels!
Once you have got the knack they are really easy to replace, but the Tiagra model I have has a spring steel "lock clip" that is very easy to lose, doesn't seem easily available to buy and is not included with replacement pads. I know that some people do and some don't remove the wheel to replace the pads, as the commute bike is an X35 ebike removing the wheel means breaking the motor connector, something not designed for frequent connecting and disconnecting.
You will need something to measure rotor wear, see
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/failed-disc.301474/post-7363224 for what happens if you don't.
I am around the 13k mile mark and I have yet to bleed the brakes, the kit isn't expensive, maybe two as I might muck up the first time but they are the sort of thing that I have or just keep lying around.
Another big downer is the that hydraulic hose are too thick and inflexible to allow me to lower the handlebars even though there appears to be a spacer that could be removed. Then the maker thought it clever to run the front hose in and out of the front fork meaning a blead is needed if I want to remove the fork! This may be fine for a shop doing this on a daily basis but is just another pain for me.
I have Tektro cable disks on my pub bike and to me they are a step back from anything other than the cheapest rim brakes.
Bye
Ian