Steam or not

Does it make any difference whether I run in Steam or not? Is the standalone better? All answers appreciated.

TBH the only difference for me was having an hour counter.
The steam version also uses it's own security bypassing the standalone strict IP locking
The other thing is the use of the steam wallet to purchase points/packs for the game, it offers wider payment methods

Other than that, can't really say there is a benefit, patching can take longer due to how steam dose it, if steam goes down you can't log in and there seem to be some steam specific bugs but that seems to be situational depending on hardware.

I've got both installed right now, but I always use the stand-alone client because it's easier to launch from my RAM drive.

The Steam version extends your friends list a bit, if you have way more friends than allowed in-game.