Why Ruby on Rails is used for Startups?
Web application frameworks are like cars. One may be good for racing, another — for massive tasks like a monster truck.
What is Ruby on Rails? It’s a startup racing car.
When we build startup projects, the choice of technology always goes different.
Startup technology has to be efficient in Time&Money spending and guarantee startup founders quick successful launch.
Thus Rails framework is our common choice for our startup clients.
Why Ruby on Rails is used for Startups: 5 key reasons
#1: Efficient development
Rails is easy and fast to develop with, as it has a lot of tools, databases, plugins, and modules — all open-source.
These benefits allow you to get code in less time.
As a bonus, Ruby is interpreted, which allows developers to search for bugs right away without having to wait for the compilation to end.
Benefits for your startup:
build a Ruby on Rails app for your startup like you are in a Formula One race — be the first and launch fast. With Ruby on Rails, your product will release faster than your market competitors.
We use both Ruby and Ruby on Rails for building solid startup MVPs. But sometimes and people mix them up.
#2: Easy testing
- TDD (Test Driven Development)
- BDD (Behavioural Driven Development)
The Ruby on Rails framework will make your project as bug-free as possible. Any issues and mistakes in the code can be easily fixed thanks to:
TDD and BDD for your product
Benefits for your startup:
These automated tests are written before coding to ensure an error-free environment. Therefore, it is easy to avoid bugs and reduce costs on debugging or development.
#3: Supportive community
The RoR community is focused on web development. It is large, friendly, and supportive. You can reuse the codes for another project, which saves time for developers.
Benefits for your startup:
This may not affect the development process at first, but will become vital the moment you need a piece of advice. With the RoR community, you or your development team can save time by reusing someone’s code samples or asking for advice, instead of trying to do it all by yourself.
#4: Lower costs
The Rails framework is open-source and distributed under the MIT license. That license gives developers permission to reuse proprietary software, without any need to pay for the framework.
Therefore, you can find Rails gems on platforms like and use them for free.
Benefits for your startup:
You can use Rails code samples absolutely for free. Isn’t it perfect for startups with a limited budget?
#5: Simple architecture
Ruby on Rails development operates on the MVC (Model-View-Controller) principle, where models correlate between objects and the database.
This makes it easy to separate your logic into functions relating to data access (model), rendering data to the user (view), and business logic (controller).
Put simply, such a solution helps store the code, centralize the business logic, and rule the data manipulation.
Benefits for your startup:
MVC brings longevity, testability, and maintenance to your project.
The MVC principle enables different programmers to work on different layers at the same time.
Model-View-Controller principle
It is easy to make changes in your code, or to invite new developers into your team, ensuring they will spend less time looking into your architecture.
It is a significant advantage when speed is crucial, especially for parallel development.
Ruby on Rails site examples: Ruby on Rails startups
- Apartment rental services like Airbnb
Airbnb is probably the most famous among startups using Ruby on Rails. Who’s never tried Airbnb service? Today this Ruby on Rails startup marketplace is famous worldwide, and a lot of startups are curious about how to build an Airbnb-like platform.
2. E-commerce stores like Shopify
Shopify shared their experience scaling the Rails app before, and it still applies. Their choice may be a historical issue. Today the project still uses the RoR framework to support over 500,000 businesses.
3. Social networking sites ASKfm
ASKfm is the highest traffic website built with Rails. Being a startup, ASKfm needed something that would allow it to grow rapidly in order to support a large user base, so they chose RoR.
4. Professional networks like Github and GitLab
Github has the whole code repository that is built with use of Ruby on Rails. GitLab; a GitHub-inspired project, also uses Rails for its ecosystem.
All these cool projects in Ruby on Rails prove ONE key thing — Rails framework not just provides with a quick MVP, but also with a scalability potential.
BUT Ruby on Rails is NOT always perfect
Racing cars can be excellent on Formula 1, but they are useless for cross country riding.
- Everything that deals with artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science
- Online messengers like Skype or Hangouts
- High-load applications
- Tasks that require quick or massive calculations (though here we can get back to the Shopify experience)
In brief:
What can Ruby on Rails be used For:
- Reducing time coding
- Saving your money
- Simplifying testing and debugging
- Taking a lot of tools for free
- Getting scalable solutions
- Having a supportive and ready-to-help community
- Having an app with a clear MVC-architecture
In conclusion:
It doesn’t matter whether you are choosing between cars or frameworks, one thing remains true: the right choice is half the success.
Everyone wants to be the first, whether it is for a Formula One race, or in web development. And the fastest one is always the winner!
Are you choosing your Perfect Startup Tech Stack now? We’ve done that a lot.
Drop us a line for a free consultation.
And good luck with youк project ;)
Originally published at https://sloboda-studio.com on August 20, 2019.
