Don't think the motive for use - recreational/sleep aid - makes any difference to the development of tolerance. It's an inevitable result of frequent use, and Etizolam, ime, builds up tolerance pretty quickly when used daily. I ran out of diaz having cut myself off from sources (they're not easy to get on prescription in the UK, even for tapers, and the current government's slashed the budgets of all maintenance/taper programmes), when down to about 30mgs a day, and soon found I was using 5mgs of Etizolam a day to sleep on. Sleep was...oh, it's so long since I've slept for more than a few hours without meds I have no normal sleep experience as a basis for comparison.
Unfortunately I ended up back on diaz, and keep fucking up the taper. In general, I'd say etizolam is slightly less addictive than regular benzos, but tolerance builds faster, though apparently w/d from etizolam is considerably gentler than from alpraz, diaz et cetera. If you enjoy it, definitely best to keep use low dose and occasional, whatever your reason for taking it.