Is one of them better than the other, including preps? I'd say the codes are quicker during the finale, but I don't know overall because of their prep mission. If there is a better one: is it worth it restarting if we don't get that?

From experience codes seem faster as it doesn't need to be delivered, though the outside security is buggy and can get alerted randomly. No, it's not worth restarting for one over another imo.