It's actually just as effective. The main reason for them being located in the receptacle is for easy reset. Thing is I wouldn't ever wan't a whole subpanel protected by a GFI breaker, don't want one little thing to trip the whole works and have you walking around in the dark. Using them on individual circuits is a good way to go, like for things such as submersible water pumps. Still I don't like them because a ghost trip can cause major issues if it's a flood pump on a flood and drain setup or air pumps on a DWC.
