On console, PSN has been arguably better if you look at the way Microsoft has behaved.
In 2013, PSN beat Xbox Live in speed test comparisons. The Xbox Live party system, messaging system, and matchmaking system at launch were notoriously criticized for being terrible. Xbox Live lacked many features PSN had and still does.
Years later Microsoft tried to improve the speed of Xbox Live. They did so by copying the PS4 user interface. In fact, most of the updates Microsoft released these past few years were mostly adding features PSN already had and fixing things that were already working on PSN. However, the Xbox Live network options in the snap window still crash and lag more than I experience on PSN.
Microsoft also copied Trophy Rarity, PSN Communitees, real player names, player bios, activity feeds and other things. It makes you wonder why Xbox Live has been playing catch up when Microsoft has been charging for multiplayer since 2002. Sony has only been charging since 2013.
As for the "outages", people don't remember the 8 straight days of confirmed Xbox Live outages that happened back in Jan./Feb. while PSN went about 6 months without any major outages. Xbox Live had an outage about a week ago but very few media outlets reported it. We know that many PSN/Xbox Live outages are caused by DDOS attacks and neither of these networks are immune to them. One network can get attacked more than the other which doesn't make another network better.
Despite all of these facts and flaws of Xbox Live, Microsoft claims, "Xbox Live is the network that won't let you down."
This whole "Xbox Live is better than PSN" argument that is being pushed is the result of "proof by assertion". It seems like Microsoft is desperate and they're using misleading ads and propaganda to sell their product. Gaming news outlets eat it right up.
I would say PSN has been more complete or innovative in features since launch while Xbox Live has been playing catch up and closed the gap considerably. As of this moment, I found very negligible difference in terms of speed and reliability between the two. Neither go down more than the other to be noticeable or a problem. In terms of features, I like how PSN has SP and the ability to use a normal profile picture. Xbox Live allows you to change your user name.
