Linux

I use flat packs over snap. Not sure why. I think i just like the name.

My experience with directly playing with snaps is running my own rocket chat.

And I must say, it's great for that. Easily sets up reverse proxy, rocket chat, mongo. Commands to do updates. Built in backup commands for mongo. It has been super for a casual setup, and easier and more useful features than e.g. docker compose

I've been known to write half-assed native packages for the odd piece of software, and just plain give up on some others, rather than touch Snap or Flatpak. I simply don't like the concept. (As with many other things, I won't stop anyone else from using it, though.)

I think its a nice alternative to developers to offer software that is not available on your package manager, but having a distro offer multiple different ways of installing a package is not a good idea, I'm talking about ubuntu of course, as a user I just want to apt-get update/upgrade and be sure my system is up to date, snap undermines that because I'm not sure anymore. also I don't understand why I need to close the app I'm using to update it with snap, if the app is containerized I should be able to install multiple versions without affecting each other.

I've only used Flatpaks. I think they're great. They have made it so much easier running apps that require some oddball dependencies. Using Flatseal does help out with checking and modifying permissions.

Flatpak is pretty good, fast and stable, just wish it'd take less space. As for snaps, they are amazing on a server, but on a desktop they make the whole experience super sluggish

I like the containerized app concept a lot. Definitely helps me keep things working if I change distros. I've had some issues with Snaps being a bit janky before (though I admit I haven't used Snap lately) but Flatpak works like a charm!

I like them, i use debian so for programs where i want the latest version while still maintaining my stable debian base i just install the flatpak. Best of both worlds to me. Additionally theres some software thats just packaged better in a flatpak like logseq. I do however try to use flatpaks as little as possible, native apps are always quicker but this may change one day.

Flatpak is fantastic. I think containerization is definitely the future of Linux app distribution, because the security and portability are so much better than native packages. Flatpak is the best implementation of this concept IMO, because it has a robust permission management system, is completely open unlike snap, and is performant with fast load times, solid deduplication of dependencies, and no garbage loopback devices

I haven't had to use them. The existing set of Deb packages is too vast to exhaust. I don't have problems with misplaced UI as I always just use xfce.

For GUI apps, flatpak is a pretty good way to get a consistent experience. All of my devices can dependably have identical versioning and functionality. Being able to manage permissions with flatseal is just a plus on top of that.

Regrettably, CLI app support just isn’t there yet, and probably 80% of my non browser usage is in the terminal… I’m eager to see how Nix takes off in that regard if they ever get things a bit more polished up for users. I’ve used it and loved it, but there’s no way my younger siblings could manage their own devices if I switched things to Nix

No strong opinion on snaps one way or the other, I haven't used them too much.

With flatpak, my own opinions are mixed. On one hand, I do like the fact that they come with all their necessary dependencies, so you're not stuck in dependency hell with native package managers, especially if for some reason a package ends up in the native repos that doesn't have its dependencies, or at least the needed versions of them, also there. Using the distro I'm running now (KDE Neon), that's happening at least with package versions a bit too often for my liking, even with KDE's own apps. I also like, then, that with flatpak you can run more recent versions of apps than you could using the native packages.

The downsides I've run into, though, are firstly with permissions, it's trickier than usual to make sure flatpaks have all the permissions they need to run the way you want them to, especially if you're not sure exactly what permissions they need. This is made easier with Flatseal, but then I'm sitting there sometimes playing Whac-A-Mole with Flatseal settings trying to find the right combination. I'm also not a fan of some flatpaks still not correctly following the system theme, making them stand out and look awkward, and lastly, I will try to stick with native apps if I can because the space on my system is somewhat limited, and including all the dependencies with flatpaks makes them use up a lot more space than the native packages.

In my experience, snaps are better for servers, and flatpaks are better for desktops.

I haven't used snaps for a couple years, so they may have fixed this, but I've found flatpaks have less issues interacting with peripherals that aren't mice/keyboards without fenagling with app permissions. A number of snap apps just wouldn't work without disabling containment entirely (aka "classic").

Flatpak permissions can be manipulated from system settings in Plasma, and there's also Flatseal. I am not aware of an equivalent for snaps; doesn't mean it doesn't exist, I haven't kept up with what's available for snap for some time.