Since Bitwig came out I think Ableton felt a bit clunky. I'm no expert in either of them, but as a beginner, it felt like Bitwig got a fresh start both with Performance and UX.

Love Bitwig. I don't know if Ableton ever got around to fixing it, but one of the real standouts for me with Bitwig when it first released was that it sandboxes VSTs and plug-ins, so if one goes rogue, it doesn't take down your entire DAW.