Reply to Master level or limiter ?

Hi everyone !

I was asking myself one question. Maybe Stupid.

When your master level is going on red at the end of your production, before mastering. You can use a limiter to set the maximum level at 0db for example. But what's about changing the master level (I'm using ableton live) ? Is there any difference for the mastering ?
That's happened in one of my old, old, old production not finalize yet.
Concretely what is the better solution (okey don't put your level in red, but when it happen a little bit, sometimes it's hard to manage..) ? I believe limiter will be better, but maybe I'm wrong.

Quick and simple question. Maybe a simple explanation ?

Thanks all !