I tried both as a teenager. At the time I ended up sticking with Linux, but even in retrospect it's hard to quantify why. I remember though that it felt more understandable and "approachable" somehow. It was little stuff like bash vs csh or the presence of ever so slightly more modern editors and utilities.

I think if FreeBSD would have put a bit more effort into modernization and community in the early to mid 90s we'd all be using it more now. It's guts were superior at the time and in a few ways still are.