A container is a fairly easy way to distribute, deploy and run a piece of software.

A package, say a .deb archive or a Python pypi, package is also a fairly easy way to distribute and deploy software. AND if you have a package, it is trivial to crate a container from it.

But with a package, it is also very easy to compose with other packages to build a more complex system.

-> Package vs container is not one or the other. Time invested in creating a package is often worth more in the long run. So, create a package if you can!