I've been under the impression for a while now that unless you needed the super accurate timekeeping that ntpd provides (most don't) you're better off just using openntpd which should exist in most distro's repo's[1]. It's basically just "good enough" for everybody who doesn't need sub ms accurate time keeping.
If you do need sub-ms accurate time keeping, then "just" running ntpd is not enough. You need to have a low-jitter connection to at least one stratum 1 server (if you don't know you have one, you don't), or a local clock. Otherwise, ntp doesn't give you more precision over openntpd -- only faster convergence after you've lost contact with servers for a few days.
If you don't know _exactly_ why you need ntpd, the default should be openntpd.
[1] https://packages.debian.org/sid/openntpd