I prefer using profile with the SST software, just because you only need to think of 1 profile (e.g. 1st mode nav/2nd mode air-air/3rd mode air-ground) US jets and 1 profile for RU jets.
That way you don't need to manually duplicate the very same HOTAS layout for the 3 Migs and 4Su's, which would be a pain in the ass.
As it is now, you can only create a specific key layout for a single jet without any possibility to copy that for another.
Using a SST profile is a lot more comfortable, though you have to familiarize with it first and need to alt+tab out a lot at first to get the hotkeys right.