Neither is desirable. However, I can imagine that due to the short-term nature of alopecia (the process of your hair being wiped out) and how apparent it is, it differs to the much more drawn out process of male pattern baldness. I don't have alopecia — well, actually I do: androgenic alopecia. Although this is just the technical term for male pattern baldness.
The alopecia that most people refer to is the one where the person has literally nothing on their bonce. It must be horrible, but you will get a lot more sympathy than someone who is going through male pattern baldness. Probably because it is so extreme — it's when you're in between two stages which is the problem.
Hope is lost when you've got nothing left, so the benefit of being a complete baldie is you can forget about finasteride, minoxidil, laser combs, microneedling etc. You are forced to either (pretend to) accept your situation or get a decent wig.
Many of us with male pattern baldness have suffered for years, if not decades. Most of the people who worry most about hair loss are typically in their late teens and early 20s, when they have most of their hair — but not all. It's the early stage of male pattern baldness that seems to be the worst. In my experience it's because you don't have a clue how quickly it's progressing, so you obsessively check yourself in the mirror everyday, microanalysing yourself for even a minuscule of more hair loss. Typically, because your hairline has only receded a little, you grow out the temples a bit more to try to give the illusion of a straight hairline. That works for a certain amount of time.
As you get a little bit older and you've figured out the speed of your hair loss, you adapt to it a little better — particularly when you aren't losing it quite as quickly as you initially thought. Hardly a consolation though.
However, you know things are going to continue to get worse, so you start buying finasteride and minoxidil with the realisation that you're probably going to be on these drugs for life, or for however long you're bothered by hair loss.
If you are born with alopecia, it's something you adapt to quicker because you don't know any different — at least on a personal level. People who acquire alopecia and male pattern baldness sufferers do know different because they knew what it was like to have hair.