Part of the reason I decided to use ply and batten(traditionally called board and batten) is because of the price. Not long after researching prices to see what I could get for my $10,000 budget I found the traditional tiny house siding of lap cedar, or even pine, was going to be too expensive for me. So I started looking around and ran the numbers and ply and batten came in at a grand total of about $375. The other thing I really like about it is how fast it will be to put up(I'm assuming here as I haven't actually put it up yet). With lap siding I'd have to stain each individual piece and nail it to the house. With ply and batten I can throw up big 4'x8' sheets of plywood and a few 1x3's and get instant gratification. And for the prices and effort to do this instead of lap siding, I feel it's a fair trade off for the looks I'll be getting. My first choice would be pained 4-6" lap siding, but my second choice that I'd be nearly just as happy with is board and batten and because I'm not head over heals in love with one look over the other, it makes sense to save the $200-300 and just go with the cheaper option.
And for those who aren't familiar with board and batten siding, here's an example of what it looks like: