NodeJS vs Ruby On Rails: Essential Guide to Choosing the Best Backend Technology in 2023

NodeJS is a JavaScript runtime built on Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine, which allows developers to write server-side JavaScript code whereas Ruby on Rails, is a web application framework written in the Ruby programming language.

NodeJS and Ruby On Rails are two of the most popular and widely used Web Development Frameworks. Both NodeJS and Ruby On Rails have their respective strengths and weaknesses. The ideal framework is decided on the basis of the requirements of your project.

NodeJS is often used while building real-time web applications whereas Ruby On Rails is used while building web applications that are highly scalable and maintainable.

In this tutorial, we will have a brief introduction to NodeJS and Ruby On Rails and we will have a side-by-side comparison of both frameworks. Before getting started let’s get a brief introduction to NodeJS and Ruby On Rails.

NodeJS: Server-Side JavaScript Runtime Environment

Overview of NodeJS

NodeJS is an open-source and cross-platform runtime environment for executing JavaScript code outside a browser. It is built on Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine. It allows developers to run JavaScript code out of the browser. It is lightweight and highly efficient which makes it popular for building scalable network applications.

History of NodeJS

NodeJS was created by Ryan Dahl in 2009. Dahl initially created it for his own use while working on a project at Joyent, a cloud computing and hosting company. He wanted to create a way to easily build scalable network applications with JavaScript, which was primarily used at the time for client-side scripting in web browsers.

Advantages of NodeJS

NodeJs is one of the most popular Web Development Framework, its key advantages are:

Fast and Efficient: NodeJS is really fast and efficient, as it uses Chrome’s V8 JavaScript Engine which is known for its speed and efficiency. NodeJS is a great choice for building scalable and high-performance web applications.
Cross-platform: NodeJS runs on multiple platforms, including Windows, Linux, and macOS, which makes it easy to develop and deploy NodeJS applications on different operating systems.
Community: NodeJS has a large and active community of developers who contribute to its development and maintenance. i.e., there are lots of resources, libraries, and documentation that help us in building, deploying, and troubleshooting NodeJS applications.
JavaScript: It uses JavaScript as a programming language which is a high-level, object-oriented, and interpreted language. If a developer is familiar with JavaScript he/she can easily work with NodeJS.
Non-blocking I/O: NodeJS uses a non-blocking I/O model, which means it can handle multiple requests at the same time without blocking the event loop. Which makes it a great choice for building real-time Web-Applications.
Scalability: NodeJS is designed to be scalable i.e., it can handle large traffic without slowing down, making it a great choice for building large and complex web applications that require high scalability.

Disadvantages of NodeJS

While NodeJS is a great framework for building web applications, it has several disadvantages, some of them are:

Asynchronous Programming: NodeJS heavily relies on callbacks and asynchronous programming which makes it difficult to use for developers who are not familiar with this style of programming.
Single-threaded: NodeJS is single-threaded, which means that it can only handle one task at a time. Though it is an advantage in most cases in some special cases it can be a disadvantage.
Lack of Standards: NodeJS is still evolving, and as such, there are no well-established standards or best practices for developing NodeJS applications. This can make it more challenging for developers to develop and maintain code over time.
Memory Usage: NodeJS applications can be memory-intensive, which can be a problem for applications running with limited resources.does not have built-in support for multithreading. Also, NodeJS is known for its frequent updates, which can lead to changes in APIs and dependencies that break existing applications.

Tech Giants using NodeJS

Netflix, Trello, LinkedIn, PayPal andUber.

Ruby On Rails: Server-Side Web Application Framework

Overview of Ruby On Rails

Ruby On Rails is a popular Web Development Framework written in Ruby programming language. It follows the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architectural pattern, which separates the application logic into three interconnected components i.e., Model, View, and Controller.

History of Ruby On Rails

Ruby on Rails was created in 2004 by David Heinemeier Hansson, a Danish programmer. Heinemeier Hansson was working on a project management tool called Basecamp and he was really frustrated with the amount of time it was taking to develop applications using traditional web development frameworks. To speed up the development of applications, Heinemeier Hansson released a new framework called Rails as an open-source project in 2004.

Advantages of Ruby On Rails

Some of the key benefits of using Ruby On Rails are:

Productivity: It comes with lots of functionalities that make the development of applications easier.
Scalability: It is meant to be scalable, i.e., it can handle high levels of traffic and requests without slowing down.
Community: It has a large and active community of developers who contribute to its development and maintenance.
Maintainability: Ruby On Rails has a strong emphasis on code organization and maintainability, which can make it easier to understand and maintain large and complex applications.

Disadvantages of Ruby On Rails

Ruby is a popular Web Development Framework, yet there are some drawbacks to using it:

Learning: Though it is easy to learn and use Ruby On Rails, developers need to be familiar with Ruby programming language and must know the conventions of the framework for the best practices.
Interpreted: Ruby On Rails is an interpreted language that makes it slower than low-level languages like C and C++. Although it is fast enough for most web applications, it might not be the right choice for building a high-performance web application.
Scalability: Although Ruby On Rails is designed to be scalable, it can be challenging to scale applications to handle very high levels of traffic.
Flexibility: It is an opinionated framework, which makes it less flexible than other web development frameworks.

Tech Giants using Ruby On Rails

Twitter, Shopify, Fiverr, Github, Airbnb and SlideShare.

NodeJS vs Ruby On Rails

Both NodeJS and Ruby On Rails are two popular Web Development Frameworks, yet they have significant differences between them:

Property	NodeJS	Ruby On Rails
Learning	It can be quite tricky working with NodeJS, especially for new developers who have just started with JavaScript and asynchronous programming.	Ruby On Rails is designed to be easy to learn and use, with a strong emphasis on conventions and best practices.
Language	NodeJs is written in JavaScript, which is one of the most popular programming languages in the entire world, widely used for front-end and back-end development.	Ruby On Rails is written in Ruby, which is relatively less popular and is a more specialized language used primarily for back-end development.
Scalability	NodeJS is designed to be highly scalable, with a non-blocking I/O model that can handle a large number of requests simultaneously.	Ruby On Rails is also scalable, but it may require more effort to scale for very high levels of traffic.
Concurrency	NodeJS has an event-driven architecture that allows multiple requests to be handled concurrently.	Ruby on Rails, uses a multi-threaded architecture that handles requests in separate threads.
Performance	NodeJs is generally faster, especially working with large amounts of data and requests. As it is single-threaded, event-driven framework.	Ruby On rails, is relatively slower, as it is a multi-threaded framework that requires more memory and resources.
Community	NodeJS is among the top technologies used by developers around the world.	Ruby on Rails also has a huge and strong community too, with huge repositories on GitHub.

NodeJS vs Ruby On Rails

At the end of the day, the choice between NodeJs and Ruby On Rails depends on the specific requirements of the project you are working on. NodeJS is definitely a better choice for applications that require high performance, scalability, and concurrency, while Ruby On Rails is a better choice for applications that require rapid development, ease of use, and maintainability.

More NodeJS Comparisons

Summary

NodeJS and Ruby On Rails are two of the most popular Web Development frameworks across the entire words. Both of them are used widely and are used by tech giants like NASA, PayPal, AirBnB, etc. But it can turn out to be a tedious task to figure out which one to choose for a particular project. In this tutorial, you’ll see the advantages, and disadvantages of both frameworks and you’ll also see how to choose between them on the basis of your requirements. Hope it helps.