Debian or Ubuntu is ideal for your VPS setup.
Debian or Ubuntu is ideal for your VPS setup.
I'm reviewing your situation. You're considering a VPS and need Debian or Ubuntu. Given your experience, your Raspberry Pi with Pi OS, and your friend's Ubuntu setup, I’d suggest Ubuntu. It’s widely used, has good community support, and works well with interactive sites and MongoDB. Your current setup with static files and nginx restarts should be manageable. Let me know if you need more details!
Ubuntu is useful for getting the newest updates without needing many third-party packages or repositories.
Ubuntu comes with enhanced security by default compared to Debian. Yet Debian is often seen as more reliable, offering fewer pre-installed tools that could introduce issues. While Debian might require more effort, it’s a choice I’d consider if I were using Red Hat instead, which I set up using an older CentOS version through a conversion tool.
They're both recognized for their role in lagging, though Debian is just a bit more prominent.
Ubuntu isn't the only option—you can upgrade any Debian setup to testing or SID by modifying /etc/apt/sources.list and running apt dist-upgrade. This is what I do on my servers when Arch isn't available. For that reason, I prefer Debian over Ubuntu.