I always ran Ubuntu for Desktops and Debian (stable) on servers, but lately i've used Ubuntu for some servers simply because the packages are more up-to-date...
Did you run your debian with backports? That solved most problems for me, and restricted the changes to the packages themselves, without pulling in to many new dependencies.
Ubuntu LTS can have outdated packages, too, and no backports there, last time I've looked.
Ubuntu LTS can have outdated packages, too, and no backports there, last time I've looked.