I think this question is asked a lot of times on various web hosting related forums and web sites. The reason why Linux is great is the fact there are just so many different flavours of it. You can check this link to get an image of how many different Linux versions there are 
And this great variability is what I think causes the confusion most of the time. For people who come from Windows Desktop/Server environment it is very hard to believe that they are all the same, but differ only in minor things.
The true fact is, that the Linux kernel is always the same. It can differ in version, but it is the same kernel used across all the Linux/GNU distributions. And when you are in the world of servers you really stop seeing so many differences between the various distributions. The reason for this are the facts like that servers do not use
- desktop managers
- windows
- etc,
because they are here to serve web pages for visitors and not for writing documents for your work 
And these are the reasons why they are not full of not needed software.
What you get when you sign up for a VPS
Most of the time what you get when you sign up for a VPS plan is a bare Linux distribution image installed. You end up with a clean Debian or Fedora Linux system [or any other distro]. You need to install all the software you want to use on your server yourself.
Some VPS providers do give you default Debian or Fedora with some software on it, but most of the time it is the default and it holds lots of not needed software and you’ll get rid of it right after you log in, because it makes your system less secure, slow and it eats up disk space
Are there any real differences?
Each Linux distribution can offer you something special. Most of the time it is not very important and the difference is not visible at all. Linux distributions differ in the way how you install software or update the whole system. There are differences in how they are organized, but even in this way there are no big differences and you should be fine when jumping fro one Linux distro to another.
The maturity is the most important factor distinguishing Linux distributions in the server world. You choose one distribution over he other when you need the most up to date system on your server. And you choose the mature one when you need stability and security.
The most advanced and cutting edge would be Fedora Linux and the most mature one Debian. These are both on different poles of the Linux universe. All the other distributions are somewhere between those two
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Which one to choose?
This depends on several things as mentioned before and you should choose carefully. I would suggest you choose according to:
- your knowledge of Linux
- how secure you want to have your system
- what web site will be served on the server
- what VPS specification you have available [RAM, CPU, virtualization technology ]
While on a VPS you can always recreate your VPS and use another Linux distro, but be sure to make proper back ups! Have a nice day and see you next time!
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