Both Cerakote and Hot Blue take plenty of equipment. Neither are kitchen-table processes.
Blue is classic and can't be looked down upon by anyone. It's the standard by which all others are judged. But it's easy to do wrong. You might, after buying tanks, heaters, instruments, and salts, end up doing it 5 or 6 times to get it right the first (or twentieth) time and even THEN might not match because of metallurgy. And that's after hours of grinding and buffing because, having not seen your gun, all it does is change the finish color of the metal. Every imperfection remains and is only accentuated by the bluing.
But it's the gold standard.
Cerakote coats. Like paint. Still a 100 grit sandblasting in the offing, so you'll need that. Multiple bakes. A good airbrush. With air supply. So you'll need that. Plus the chems. But there's some very authentic colors - and some wild ones, too - to choose from.
If you're gonna do a FIRST finishing project, you can go either way. That is, if you intend to do lots and lots MORE finishing projects, you'll find Cerakote to be in demand, especially if you're setup for clown colors and stencils. You'll find a good hot blue to ALSO be in demand, if you can meticulously finish the white metal and control your process.
IOW, if you're not gonna do this, like a lot, for your friends and your other guns, it's hardly worth it. Take it to someone. But I'd give the nod to Cerakote because it's more forgiving and you can't blue an AR - which will be most of what people ask you about.
Oh, and if you do this for other people, you'll really wanna check into an FFL.