One of my old/original fuel pumps has a glass bowl and a screen on top. It went bad and I replaced it with a pump without the filter, and in a few months had problems with dirt in the carb a few times. I took the new one off, and it looked about like the old one but without the filter.
I was able to install the top casting with the filter on the new pump, and no more dirt in the carb problems, the tops were interchangeable.
I would recommend the pump with glass bowl filter over a standalone inline filter, as the one on the pump looks more original, and is very functional. It is also an easy way to drain water out of the tank if you need to, just loosen the glass bowl till all the water runs out, (you can see it) and then tighten.
Grigg