Consider what happens when your company makes a counteroffer to keep you from leaving. As we pointed out, it can cost your company more to replace you than to keep you. The additional money you are given has to come out of some budget. That budget is likely the one allocated to the normal salary review process. The money you get to stay gets deducted from the raise you'll get come review time.
Money now is still better than money later.
True, but when the trigger for recalculating your value is fear of losing you, the company inevitably recalculates the intangibles we discussed above, too. The salary increase may require a job reassignment to justify it. The real choice you must make about counteroffers is not whether you should accept one, but whether you should even consider one. Pursue a job opportunity because it's the right thing for you, not because it presents a chance to get more money out of your current employer. In terms of cash, the counteroffer is usually a zero-sum game.