Gateway is definitely not easier - you have to use an emuNAND and find a way to update it to only 11.2, since Gateway never released support for 11.3 and 11.4. If you follow their "fast boot" installation method, then your console will basically be a brick if you lose your Gateway cartridge or it breaks (you can't boot up the console without it). If you use the old method (what I would do if for some reason I wanted to use Gateway) then now you need an internet connection whenever you want to boot it up. Or you could use the homebrew launcher, but you would have to work it out by piecing together old guides because that's all outdated now. And if you have problems you'd have to work out our yourself since very few people would remember enough to be able to help. Plus, if you accidentally update your sysNAND you are now locked out of EVERYTHING. And if you use a9lh or b9s, then you'll be following the guide anyway, with the added danger that if you boot Gateway mode on sysNAND, you are locked out of everything still.
So, in short, don't use Gateway if you are able to not (i.e. if you're not using their cheat feature and don't have lots of saves you have to extract).
If you need assistance with the guide, I'm sure we can help.