I started using a snap to run Emacs 28 on my Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS system. The snap is maintained by a Canonical employee, and I like it better than any of the other ways I have used to get more bleeding-edge versions of software in the past, such as using a random Personal Package Archive (PPA) or building from source myself.

Would I rather have the deb package be up-to-date? Sure. But when I've used distributions that try to stick closer to the bleeding edge everywhere, I've had bad experiences with stuff breaking. This lets me keep a stable, well-tested distribution for everything except for the one package I want to be newer.

I can't compare to Flatpak or AppImage because I've never used them.

Forced auto updates and a closed store mean I won't even try to like snaps. Those are the top two reasons I moved off Windows.

While i don't go out of my way to use them, i've never, ever encountered any of the problems stated by others. And I'm not being selective with my devices at all (Asus laptops, hp minipc).

I really wonder how i can have such a different experience to theirs apart from really esoteric parts/apps. Not saying it's not happening.

While i'd prefer just using apt, they let me work without being a pain so i don't really care.

They’re better than Flatpak for CLI applications I guess since Flatpak doesn’t aim to support those

Is there another option for that than Snap, or Docker which is a bit too complicated to set up? (that’s not rhetorical, I would like to know if there is)

me. They provide solutions that work. There have been some teething pains but for the most part nonissues. It's at the point where I'm considering learning how to build snaps for private products I deliver.

I think the argument over flat pack versus snaps may expressed in technological terms but in reality, it's just your damn ego. Let it go, it's really not worth arguing over. Use what solves your work problem and then go have a life away from computers.

I've used it to install Nextcloud Hub and it was nice actually.