Ruby on Rails has been around for over 15 years now, but it remains one of the most popular frameworks for building robust web applications. Though new frameworks and languages have emerged, Rails continues to be a top choice for many developers and startups.
Key Reasons to choose Ruby on Rails
Here are some key reasons why Ruby on Rails is still an excellent option for product development in 2023:
Rapid Prototyping
One of Rails biggest advantages is the ability to go from idea to prototype extremely quickly. The conventions and prescriptions of Rails make it easy to generate boilerplate code and get an MVP up and running within days or weeks. This enables validating product ideas and gathering user feedback rapidly. The fast iteration cycles promote agile development. As requirements change, Rails makes it easy to adapt and add new features. The flexibility helps startups continuously improve their products.
Developer Productivity
Ruby on Rails provides high developer productivity. The Rails conventions, MVC pattern, and emphasis on “Don’t Repeat Yourself (DRY)” all help developers build features faster. Rails vast ecosystem of open-source libraries and tools further improves productivity. Developers can find gems for almost anything they need instead of building from scratch. The large Rails community also helps troubleshoot issues quickly. Chances are any problem you run into has been discussed before, with solutions readily available.
Lower Development Cost
The high productivity of Rails developers translates into lower overall engineering cost compared to other platforms. Startups can build MVPs and launch products with smaller teams and budgets. Ruby developers tend to be in high supply, which keeps hiring costs in check. The ample talent pool makes it easier to scale teams as needed. Rails is also open source with no licensing costs. All of these factors combine to create big savings on product development.
Startup Ecosystem Fit
Rails emerged from the startup world and is designed for the needs of startups. The framework emphasizes speed and pragmatism over perfection. It gets out of the way and enables startups to iterate and pivot as needed. The Rails philosophy aligns well with modern software development practices like agile, lean and MVPs. This makes it a natural fit for the fast pace of startups. Prominent startups like Airbnb, GitHub, Shopify, Twitch etc built their products on Ruby and continued using it as they scaled. Rails can clearly take startups from prototype to successful business.
Security
Software security is essential for any product used by customers. Ruby on Rails provides good security defaults and practices out of the box. Rails sanitizes input and escapes output to prevent common issues like XSS, CSRF, SQL injection etc. Data encryption and session management help protect sensitive data. The Rails core team also promptly fixes any vulnerabilities discovered. Overall, Rails enables developers to create secure apps following industry best practices.
Scalability
Ruby on Rails can scale to support large amounts of traffic and data. Optimization techniques like caching, background processing, and database partitioning allow Rails applications to handle high loads. Companies like Airbnb, GitHub, Shopify, and Basecamp run massively successful Rails applications. Their high-traffic sites and apps demonstrate Rails’ scalability in the real world. Rails also plays well with cloud infrastructure. It can be deployed on cloud platforms like AWS, Google Cloud, and Heroku for easy scaling.
Strong Community
The large and active Rails community is a big plus. As an open source project, Rails has contributors worldwide who enhance the framework. There is no shortage of documentation, guides, tutorials and questions on StackOverflow to learn Rails. Courses, screencasts, conferences and meetups make learning Rails easy for beginners. For support, the community is helpful for troubleshooting issues and providing feedback. The wealth of expertise and passion within the Rails community keeps the framework thriving.
Mature Technology
Because Rails has been around for over 15 years, it is a mature and battle-tested framework. The longevity speaks to the sound technical design and real-world applicability of Rails. The framework is on its 7th major version and continues to grow with new features and improvements. An established technology like Rails brings a reassurance that your investment in the platform will last. At the same time, Rails carries little legacy baggage. The codebase has undergone multiple refactorings to shed unnecessary complexity accumulated over the years.
Great for APIs
While Rails is best known for building web apps, it is also superb for developing APIs. JSON has become the lingua franca for internet APIs. Rails has first-class support for JSON with the ability to easily render JSON responses. Active Model Serializers allow customizing JSON output from APIs. Rails APIs work seamlessly with frontends built using JavaScript frameworks like React, Vue, and Angular. Large sites often use Rails for the API backend and JavaScript for the frontend. Tools like JSON Web Tokens out-of-the-box enable implementing authentication for APIs. Overall, Rails provides everything needed to build robust, production-ready APIs.
Smooth Deployments
Deploying applications is straightforward with Rails’ ecosystems of deployment solutions. Heroku’s git push deploy makes launching apps a breeze. Capistrano is a popular tool used to automate deployments and rollbacks on remote servers. CI tools like GitHub Actions can integrate with Capistrano for zero-downtime deploys. Hire Ruby on Rails developers who can manage the full lifecycle of apps from development to deployment. Hassle-free deployments allow focusing efforts on building product features.
Hire Ruby on Rails Developers
For startups and companies looking to build products on Ruby on Rails, it is essential to hire experienced Rails developers. There are a few ways to build a talented Rails team:
Full-Time In-House
Hiring full-time Ruby developers to work at your office is the classic approach. It allows close collaboration and oversight. Office culture also builds loyalty among employees. The downside is that it can be expensive and time-consuming to hire. Plus, you need to handle payroll, benefits, equipment, workspaces etc.
Remote Workers
A remote team of Rails developers allows tapping talent worldwide. Remote work is increasingly mainstream so finding talented remote developers is getting easier. Companies can scale teams up or down through remote hiring. There is also access to an international talent pool with varied skill sets. Managing remote workers requires solid processes and communication. But remote teams allow building robust development teams with less overhead.
Software Development Agencies
Speciality software agencies have teams of Rails experts who can build products to spec. The agencies handle staffing, operations and delivery. Agencies allow access to pre-screened Ruby talent without running a huge in-house team. It also provides flexibility to scale up or down based on needs. The drawbacks are higher cost and less control compared to in-house teams. Extensive vetting is needed to find capable agencies that fit your needs.
Dedicated Development Teams
Dedicated development teams from software services firms provide an alternative resourcing model. They lease out dedicated Ruby on Rails teams for your projects. These pre-assembled teams function as your extended in-house development team. You get experienced Rails developers focused exclusively on your product. It combines the talent access of agencies with the aligned priorities of in-house teams. Dedicated teams scale seamlessly along with your business needs. The key benefits are world-class talent, alignment with business objectives, flexible scaling and lower risk. For startups open to remote teams, dedicated teams can be an ideal option.
Conclusion
Ruby on Rails remains a tried and tested platform for building web products in 2023. The framework continues to evolve through its vibrant open source community. Rails empowers startups and companies to prototype quickly, develop features rapidly and deliver high-quality products. It is a full-stack framework with everything needed to build and scale complete web applications. For new startups, Rails offers an agile platform to validate and evolve products iteratively. The large talent pool makes hiring easy. Even as companies grow, Rails provides a solid foundation for the engineering team and codebase. The past successes of thousands of startups clearly showcase the capabilities of Ruby on Rails. For lean product teams looking to maximize productivity, Rails is still the right choice in 2023 and beyond.