Ruby on Rails vs Node.js – Which Technology is Better for Your App in 2020?

Ruby on Rails vs node.js: Choosing the right technology is the most difficult task for any business. For that matter, most of us opt for consulting advice from the experts. Selecting the correct platform is essential as it can make or drop your online venture. To help you with this, we are here to compare these two languages: Node JS and Ruby on Rails.

Node.js and Ruby on Rails are popular server-side technologies that can do many different things. Both solutions are being appreciated because of their simplicity, speed, and easy code maintenance; they are often put on the comparison list and are good alternatives to Python, Java, PHP .NET, etc.

Ruby on Rails Development Solutions are based on the Ruby language and Node.js follows the “JavaScript” merge web application development around a single programming language, rather than other languages for server-side and client-side scripts.

Ruby on Rails was appreciated for its simple and readable, English-like syntax when it was first introduced. However, RoR’s popularity has been slowly decreasing over the past few years. And even though the decrease of RoR is rather slow, we can notice that every time it tries to recover after its minor declines, it rarely gets back to the previous level.

Node.js, on the other hand, is always noticed to be at its best – and it’s higher than Ruby on Rails!

Companies Are Switching To Node.JS

Ruby on Rails was originally used for building famous software products, such as Basecamp, Twitter, Netflix, Slideshare, Kickstarter, Airbnb, Github, and many more.

Many of them, however, are now gradually migrating to Node.js like Twitter, and Netflix, just to mention a few.

Ruby on Rails vs Node.js: Let’s Analyze the Pros and Cons of both!

Pros of Node.JS

• It’s all JavaScript

The same language on the client and server-side makes Node.js applications faster than any other that utilizes different languages. Also, writing web applications in Node.js, using JS from back- to front-end is an optimization factor that may shorten time-to-market and make future maintenance easier.

• It’s fast

Node.js is based on one of the fastest engines – Google’s V8. The speed of code execution is also enhanced by the runtime environment as it supports the non-blocking I/O operations. Node.js is capable enough to demonstrate high runtime speed giving much faster coding experiences to the developers. Thankfully, Node.js apps are quick to develop and they serve the same amount of traffic with less hardware.

• It’s lightweight

Node.js is lightweight both for in-memory usage and data-dense real-time web applications that work on multiple devices. As it requires a relatively small amount of computing resources, it is not only fast (as mentioned above), but also more accessible for users.

• It’s scalable

Three reasons stand for Node JS development services scalability: it is one of the technologies natively managed by AWS, it can be simply broken down into microservices, and it includes an event-based model.

Scalability makes Node a good choice for applications that are expected to quickly grow the number of users.

• Easy working with large files

Thanks to Node’s stream modules, it is easy to handle large files. Streams are the collection of data – just like arrays or strings. Unlike them, streams don’t need to be available all at once. Thanks to that, they don’t have to “fit” in the memory limits – and that’s like a holy grail for the challenges of handling large amounts of data!

• It handles the requests simultaneously

The ability to handle the requests makes Node a perfect place for real-time web app development such as chats, games or collaborating tools. With Node.js, multiple users can edit the same file, move tasks among the boards, comment, adding media files – all at a time.

• It is growing fast!

A new version is released every 6 months, there is a great choice of open-source scripts, libraries, and applications supporting Node.js, and there is a wide range of hosting options and built-in server support. Also, the community of developers for Node.js is getting larger and bigger each day.

Cons of Node.JS

• No multi-threading

Even though it can handle the requests simultaneously, we need to remember that there is no multithreading. If a real-time Node.js application is not implemented correctly, the callbacks may slow it down. When implemented correctly, however, it’s not a con anymore.

• Unstable?

Node.js has been noticed for changing API at frequent intervals. Is it a serious issue? Well, when the API changes, developers need to make changes to the existing code base to make it compatible with the latest version of the Node.js API.

Pros of Ruby on Rails

• Speed of development

The Convention Over Configuration approach allows developers to start working on the actual products as soon as possible – with as little time spent on configuring the environment as possible. This is not only convenient for the developers but it also contributes directly to shorter time-to-market. That’s right! Ruby on Rails comes in handy if you want to build your app very fast and verify your startup ideas on the market. Once there are users, you can collect feedback, watch their behaviour, verify your early assumptions and set the right path for further development.

• Simple, English-like syntax

It is often said that if you speak English, you can understand Ruby. While it is not the truth (sorry, some level of understanding of the whole concept of programming will be useful anyway), Ruby’s “natural, English-like” syntax is indeed easy to read and easy to write.

• Good community around it

Rails is an open-source web application framework supported by an active and supportive community of developers. Not only are they able to help each other when they face some challenges, but they also ensure that the Rails framework is regularly updated, bugs are fixed, and security issues are up-to-date with the industry standards.

It’s an open-source solution with a rich set of gems

In Ruby on Rails, Gems are libraries with specific functionalities that allow their users to extend and build custom software and app solutions. As everyone can create one, there are thousands of them available, serving different purposes – from authentication and authorization to payment processing and testing.

Cons of Ruby on Rails

• Low performance

Let’s face the truth – Ruby on Rails is not a speed demon. As it’s not an issue when you release the first version of your product, the problem will grow proportionally to your users’ database.

RoR’s defenders claim that in most cases, the performance issues of RoR applications depend on the server or database architecture and… the skills of your engineering team – and not on Ruby on Rails itself. Nonetheless, if you don’t work with true and experienced RoR masters in your team, performance issues may arise at some point.

• Low scalability

When you search for some information about RoR application’s scalability, you will quickly learn the story of Twitter. Initially built with Ruby on Rails, then switched to Scala to handle their increasing number of user requests. On the other hand, there are apps such as Shopify, Github or Couchsurfing that scaled quite well.

To be fair, there are solutions to make a RoR application scalable. First and foremost, it can’t be a monolith. Microservices scale better, regardless of the technology. Then, there is a set of good practices but applying them usually requires a good set of skills and sometimes it’s simply not worth it. Ruby on Rails may be a perfect pick to build your Proof-of-Concept as fast as possible, but it’s much trickier in the case of larger projects.

• Slow runtime speed

This point is related both to RoR applications’ scalability and performance. Ruby on Rails is slow compared to its peer platforms. It won’t be a problem if you have a small app but it may affect its scalability in the future.

• Lack of flexibility

Ruby on Rails is considered a very opinionated framework, meaning that it only lets you create your app in a specific way – the one that Rails “wants” you to. Convention over configuration, right? While this approach brings some benefits (especially when you build an app with some standard functionalities), it may be a pain while developing some more unconventional apps, forcing you to choose between the development time or the app’s uniqueness.

ruby on rails vs node.js comparison: which one is a better pick for your app?

The choice of the perfect technology for your project should always start with the assessment of your challenges and needs.

If you are focused on building your application as fast as it can be, you may consider choosing Ruby on Rails. It will be a good choice if your project has tight deadlines and budget requirements. Prior to this, always keep in mind, that this decision may have some negative effects when you grow with your app– Ruby on Rails is often criticized for performance and scalability issues. Also, in the long term, it may be heavy in budget to hire a good RoR developer.

If you scale it high and want your app to measure, or if you develop an innovative Mobile app development solutions or web development solutions that requires total control over the framework, modules, database integrations, and server– then the right choice would be to Hire Node.js Certified Developers is the right pick for you.

It is quick, lightweight, and scalable. Combined with the way it handles large files and handle multiple requests, it’s a good choice for all real-time apps, chats, streaming applications, or tools.