Personally, I find packages better suited for getting a system up and running right away (just a bunch of # pkg_add -r commands), but ports are better for keeping a system up-to-date and only using/installing/running the bits you want.
To get the best of both worlds, configure a build system where you use the ports tree to build packages, and then use the pkg_* tools on the target system to install them. That way, you don't even need a compiler toolchain or ports tree on your in-use systems.
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