My garage door and front door were originally stained and vanished wood. House is 30+ years old. Five years ago a painter re-varnished the front doors and used a solid stain over the garage door. For some reason he used a deck stain (Sherwin Williams Deckscapes water based) on the garage door vs. a siding stain or paint). Now the front door is again weathered looking and the garage door needs to be redone as the very bottom of the door has paint cracking and chipping (the rest of the garage door looks OK beyond needing a cleaning).

I'm wondering if I should be using exterior paint or a solid color exterior stain or if they will be equally OK. I plan on just cleaning the doors (and scraping sanding the weathered area) and do not plan on totally removing the underlying finish.

I know stain is really for applying to bare wood or previously stained wood which will let it soak in, but it also seems like the solid color stains are pretty much the same as paint to my uninformed mind. Am I wrong on this? Are there reasons I should use the solid color stain vs. exterior paint or vice versa?