I can probably chime in, as a Consultant with over 4 years of experience. Before that I was a Developer with 5 years of experience. There are few key differences between them which are quite crucial to understand.

Differences:

\- Consultant: There are few types of them actually. For e.g. A Project Management Consultant will only focus on PM related work and interact with the clients directly. They do not have any technical experience, majority of the time. Some are ex developers but rarely. 

In contrast someone who is a Technical Consultant will have technical background and will also be required to do both coding and simultaneously build relations with the clients. Therefore, this requires you to be quite a likeable individual and also very knowledgeable. In the consulting companies that I have seen the higher positions are almost always going to Senior Managers/Directors/Partners. So choose this if that is your career progression goal.

In conclusion, if you are sort of individual that likes to get their head down and do coding with very little interactions with the clients, you will struggle. Especially, once you have been with them for a while. They will expect you to be more customer focused and have the ability to win everyone over, if that is not you, you most likely wont get a promotion.

\- Developers: They are solely focused on cutting codes and building softwares/websites. They are not expected to interact or build relations with the clients, certainly not to the extent as Consultants.

Therefore, as a technical individual, if this where you stand, which I assume most coders are, then you will struggle as a Consultant.

I am a developer through and through but I chose the Consultant to come out my comfort zone and to be honest sometimes I regret that decision. The amount of ask for a Consultant is just too many in my opinion, you have to be an extremely competent Developer and also handle Client interactions. Make yourself visible in the organisation or else there wont be any promotion aspect. They are looking for a unicorn individual that is a complete unit. This might be you, but it can be quiet tiresome. 

Therefore, I see lots of Senior consultants that are ok developers but are good with clients and can build good working relations with them and also other colleagues. They really do well in such environments.

Just to summarise Consultants equates to more work, responsibilities and technical expertise. Most likely also comes with occasional commutes so that you can meet clients at their offices. Whereas, developers are more focused on coding and therefore, might have more exposure to the actual technology they are working on without the hassle of client interaction and socialising.

Consultant vs Developer