Ruby on Rails Pros and Cons: Things to Consider When Choosing the Technology
If you make the right choice, it will give you a solid base for growth and expansion. If you choose wrong though, it may cost you an arm and a leg.
Ruby on Rails (RoR) is a popular web framework for development and is considered one of the most popular frameworks for building scalable web applications. Built on the Ruby programming language, Ruby on Rails is primarily used for back end development, providing a strong foundation for server-side logic. As a development RoR offers many components of a successful web project, such as an ORM (Object Relational Mapping) system for business data and logic, routing, and application management out of the box. Still, to decide whether RoR is a good fit for your project, you need to know what makes this framework different from others, especially when compared to other languages and web frameworks used for developing web applications. To help you build a deeper understanding of RoR, we are going to give an overview of its main strengths and limitations.
Introduction to Web Development with Ruby on Rails
Ruby on Rails has become a cornerstone in the world of web development, offering a robust and efficient framework for building modern web applications. Built on the Ruby programming language, Ruby on Rails streamlines the development process by providing essential tools and conventions right out of the box. This web development framework is designed to help product and business owners launch scalable web apps quickly, with features like an integrated ORM system, intuitive routing, and comprehensive application management. What truly sets Ruby on Rails apart from other frameworks is its focus on developer productivity and code maintainability, making it a top choice for anyone looking to build a successful web project. By understanding the unique strengths of Ruby on Rails, you can determine if it aligns with your web app development goals and sets the stage for future growth.
Pros of using Ruby on Rails to develop your Web app
1. Best Industry Standards
Ruby on Rails is an opinionated framework which means it guides you into their way of doing things. It promotes the best standards and practices of web development.
The central pillar of the Rails philosophy is the DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself) principle that ensures a clear separation of concerns and maintainability of your application. The framework embraces the principle of ‘convention over configuration’, according to which Rails defaults to a set of conventions that specify the best way of doing many things.
Rails is also built around the MVC (Model-View-Controller) philosophy that promotes modularity and extensibility of your applications. The object-oriented nature of Ruby and Rails further simplifies content management and development workflows. This means that no matter how complex your application is, it can be easily extended with new features and business logic.
Just to illustrate the level of complexity one can achieve with RoR, take a look at GitHub. This is the largest repository of source code in the world, built on a complex architecture of version control and distributed software development. All this complexity is successfully managed by an RoR framework.
2. Speed of Development
RoR was created with the high velocity of prototyping and application development in mind. Its well-developed system of modules, generator scripts, and an efficient package management system allow scaffolding a complex application in just a few commands. This significantly reduces development time compared to other frameworks.
One can achieve rapid application development thanks to the expressive and concise nature of Ruby language, and also to dozens of open-source libraries for just about any purpose, which the Ruby community calls ‘gems’. Ruby code is highly readable and often eliminates the need for separate documentation.
As an added bonus, Rails ships with a default ORM system (ActiveRecord), which helps developers quickly put application and data logic together and deploy a fully functional prototype to be expanded with new features later. The Rails framework provides extensive support for rapid prototyping and feature implementation.
According to FastCompany, software development is an expensive part of a startup journey which doesn’t have an end. Environmental risk, such as law changes and third-party dependencies’ updates, means that there is some extra work for developers. The time span from the first noticeable change to production delivery should be as short as possible. Read more about speed of development in Ruby on Rails.
Leveraging Ruby on Rails to build an app that aims at bridging the generation gap.
Rails is an open-source web framework supported by a vibrant community of talented developers. Using RoR in their own projects, Rails developers are interested in the constant improvement of the code base and incorporation of new functionalities. RoR code is known for its clarity and maintainability, which accelerates the development process. As a result, with Rails, there is no need to reinvent the wheel in your projects.
RoR’s ecosystem contains many “gems”, i.e. pieces of software that can be incorporated into your project. Ruby community takes care of that. Almost any functionality you might need for your web project has already been created.
A vibrant community that runs Rails also ensures that the framework is regularly updated, issues are fixed, and security is kept up-to-date with the best industry standards.
3. Community and Support
One of the standout advantages of Ruby on Rails is its active and supportive community. The Rails community is known for its collaborative spirit, with countless developers contributing to the ongoing improvement of the framework and sharing their expertise. This vibrant network ensures that Rails projects benefit from a wealth of resources, including extensive documentation, detailed tutorials, and active forums where developers can seek advice and troubleshoot issues. The community’s commitment to knowledge sharing accelerates the development process and helps both new and experienced developers stay up to date with best practices. Additionally, the Rails community has curated a vast collection of gems—modular libraries that can be easily integrated into your framework to add new features and streamline development. This ecosystem of support and resources makes Ruby on Rails a reliable choice for building and maintaining web applications.
4. Cost-effective development
You don’t have to spend a lot of time and money on the development stage because it boasts of rapid development. Rapid development means less money spent on things that could take time.
RoR developers are available on the market at reasonable prices. In fact, the framework is the first choice for beginning web developers due to its low learning curve.
Moreover, due to the obvious framework’s simplicity, maintaining your application does not necessitate a significant expenditure. Rails also streamlines mobile app development by automating many common tasks, making it efficient for building both web and mobile applications. Rails is an open-source framework, there are no license costs to pay.
If you don’t want to blow your budget on web development, Ruby on Rails consulting is one of the best options.
Cons of using Ruby on Rails to develop your Web app
1. Runtime Speed and Performance
One of the most frequent arguments against RoR is its ‘slow' runtime speed, which makes it harder to scale your RoR applications. While it's true that other top environments and frameworks (Node.js or Django) are somewhat faster than RoR, it is unlikely that your application will witness performance bottlenecks, unless it has a user base comparable to such large websites as Twitter.
In most cases, performance issues your RoR application will face will be linked to the server or database architecture and the skillfulness of your engineering team rather than RoR itself.
Performance considerations should be still kept in mind, though. Twitter, for example, struggled to improve RoR's performance that deteriorated after the social network became very popular. Although Twitter did not abandon RoR completely, it had to replace certain internal communication components and server daemons with Scala solutions.
2. Lack of Flexibility
RoR is an opinionated framework with a lot of hard dependencies and modules included out of the box. Unlike some languages that support functional programming and offer greater flexibility in development styles, Rails emphasizes convention and structure over flexibility. To kickstart the project, your developers should configure routing, database migrations, and other modules shipped with the framework.
These default modules are good if you want to create an application with some standard functionalities, but they might backfire on you if you have something unique in mind. In this case, it may be harder to adjust RoR to your product’s needs.
At some point, you will have to make a difficult choice between giving a deep overhaul to your Rails application or using another framework that better suits your needs.
3. High cost of wrong decisions in development
Wrong architecture decisions during the initial stages of your project might cost you more in Rails than in any other framework. Careful planning is essential in rails development to avoid costly mistakes that can impact both web and mobile application projects. Since prototyping with Rails is incredibly fast, an engineering team inexperienced in Rails might make unobvious mistakes that will erode your application’s performance in the future.
These structural deficiencies will be hard to fix because Rails is an open framework, where all components are tightly coupled and depend on each other.
For instance, too much reliance on ActiveRecord makes an application logic tightly coupled with database models, which leads to maintainability problems in the long run.
4. Documentation
It can be difficult to locate reliable documentation. In particular, for less popular gems and libraries that make extensive use of mixins.
You’ll frequently discover that the test suite acts as documentation, and you’ll rely on it to understand behavior. The readability of Ruby code often reduces the need for separate documentation, as the code itself is clear and self-explanatory. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing because the test suite should be the most up-to-date representation of the system. However, it can be frustrating to have to dive into code when written documentation would have been much faster. Thanks to Ruby's self-documenting nature, developers rarely need to write separate documentation, which can accelerate the development process.
5. Learning Curve and Adoption Challenges
Ruby on Rails is often praised for its accessibility, especially for those new to web development. Thanks to the expressive syntax of the Ruby programming language and the clear structure provided by the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture, many novice developers find the framework highly intuitive. However, there can be a learning curve for those unfamiliar with Ruby or coming from other programming languages and frameworks. The opinionated nature of Rails, while beneficial for enforcing best practices, may require some adjustment for developers used to more flexible or less structured environments. Despite these initial challenges, the extensive documentation and strong community support available for Ruby on Rails make it easier to overcome obstacles and master the framework. With time and hands-on experience, developers can leverage Rails to build powerful, scalable web applications and expand their skill set in the process.
Security and Best Practices in Ruby on Rails
Security is a top priority in web development, and Ruby on Rails is designed with this in mind. The framework includes built-in safeguards against many common web vulnerabilities, such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting (XSS), helping developers protect their web applications from the outset. The Rails community also plays a crucial role in promoting security, offering up-to-date guidelines and best practices for securing Rails applications. These recommendations cover everything from using secure protocols for data transmission to implementing robust authentication and authorization systems. By following these best practices and leveraging the security features provided by the framework, developers can ensure that their web applications remain safe, reliable, and trustworthy for users.
How Ruby on Rails Compares to Other Technologies
When evaluating web development frameworks, Ruby on Rails consistently stands out for its rapid development capabilities, extensive libraries, and large, active community. Compared to other frameworks like Node.js or Django, Rails offers a more comprehensive collection of gems and a well-established support network, making it easier for web developers to build feature-rich web applications efficiently. While some other frameworks may offer faster runtime performance, Ruby on Rails excels in development speed, code maintainability, and scalability—qualities that are essential for many web projects. The active community ensures that the framework stays current and that developers have access to the latest tools and resources. Ultimately, when choosing a web development framework, it’s important to weigh factors such as development speed, performance, and community support. For many teams, Ruby on Rails provides the right balance of productivity, flexibility, and long-term support for successful web application development.
Conclusion
Ruby on Rails is definitely one of the best web development frameworks to consider for your next project. With RoR you can do pretty much the same as with other good frameworks. While JavaScript is supported by all modern web browsers, Ruby on Rails excels in building robust server-side logic and user interfaces.
The excellent community, a quality code base, the sheer size of the module database, and the maintainability of RoR applications made it the preferred choice for such successful projects as Airbnb, GitHub, BaseCamp, Zendesk, and Bloomberg. The rails framework streamlines the development of user interfaces and automates many repetitive tasks, making it efficient for developers.
However, the devil is in the detail. RoR is surely development and budget requirements.
On the other hand, a less opinionated framework such as Node.js may be a better choice for innovative web development solutions that require a total control over the framework architecture, modules, database integrations, and server deployment. The same will apply if you are building I/O-heavy Real-Time Applications for which performance and scalability are a major concern. Other languages and web frameworks, such as Laravel, CakePHP, or Django, may offer different advantages depending on the project requirements.
