Ubuntu was planning to ship the CUPS printing stack as a Snap in 23.10 — but after several months of testing, its changed its mind.
Accordingly, a DEB-based printing stack will feature in Ubuntu 23.10 “Mantic Minotaur” and in Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. Switching to the CUPS Snap will now aim to take place during the Ubuntu 24.10 development cycle.
Depends on the software you’re using and how it’s being packaged by the vendor. Flatpak works pretty well. Snap sucks. AppImages are easy when done right, but with lots of downsides/no security mechanisms.
If the vendor recommends using their repo, I’ll use it. If they recommand using my distro’s packages, I’ll do that. Generally, I get the best experience when I install software the way the developer wants me to. It makes for a “lumpier” distro (flatpaks, appimages, downloaded binaries, actual packages… jesus, it’s a mess) but honestly all the software works without a hiccup.
If you buck the developers, weird stuff can happen. If they want you to install their packages, but you install your distro’s packages instead, be ready for a rough time.