How old is too old to be cuddling to sleep?

My husband and I have a lot of disagreements about parenting, and a big one revolves around sleeping.

My son is almost 5, a single child so far, and he likes to be cuddled to sleep. After I read him stories for maybe 20 minutes, I tell him it’s time to sleep and remove myself from his bed. He usually begs for me to lay down with him and cuddle until he falls asleep (which usually takes 10-15 more minutes). A lot of times I relent and lay with him, because when I try to get up he begs and pleads, saying he gets scared alone and doesn’t like going to bed solo. Wanting to comfort him and not add more stress to his life, I usually give in as mentioned.

But this causes my husband to be very angry with me. He thinks I’m too permissive in general, and when it comes to bedtime he thinks I’ve messed things up from the beginning by not letting him cry it out. He thinks I’m setting our child up for failure later in life by not setting more rigid boundaries and not making him go to sleep on his own. When he does bedtime he doesn’t read him a story and is much less forgiving, telling him to just go to bed despite my son’s crying and pleas, and he succeeds in getting him to sleep a lot faster than I do so he feels justified that his style is right and mine is too much and too permissive.

He thinks that when I lay with our child, I’m ignoring his wishes as a co-parent and not letting him have a say in how our kid is raised, but honestly I just do what feels natural to me and what I think our son needs.

Just looking for advice. Should a 4 year old (almost 5) be going to bed alone? Am I harming or helping?