Another reason I prefer to use Ubuntu on the RPi for headless deployment, the serial console is enabled by default. The other reasons are ssh being enabled by default and the ability to use cloud-init for initial configuration.
From the documentation page on remote access
For headless setup, SSH can be enabled by placing a file named ssh, without any extension, onto the boot partition of the SD Card. When the Raspberry Pi boots, it looks for the ssh file. If it is found, SSH is enabled and the file is deleted.
https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/computers/remote-a...