Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

ember.js VS Sails.js

Compare ember.js VS Sails.js and see what are their differences

ember.js logo ember.js

A JavaScript framework for creating ambitious web apps

Sails.js logo Sails.js

Realtime MVC Framework for Node.js
  • ember.js Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-04-15
  • Sails.js Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-04-14

ember.js features and specs

  • Convention Over Configuration
    Ember.js emphasizes conventions, which can help streamline the development process and reduce decision fatigue by providing out-of-the-box solutions and standardizing code structure.
  • Robust CLI
    Ember CLI is a powerful command-line tool that helps automate numerous development tasks, such as scaffolding, building, testing, and deploying applications, making the developer's workflow more efficient.
  • EMBER Data
    Ember Data is a robust library for handling data models and relationships. It simplifies the process of interacting with APIs and managing data, offering built-in support for RESTful APIs.
  • Strong Community and Ecosystem
    Ember.js has a strong and active community, which results in extensive documentation, numerous addons, and regular updates, enhancing the framework's reliability and feature set.
  • Two-Way Data Binding
    Ember.js supports two-way data binding, which helps keep the model and the view in sync automatically. This feature simplifies the management of user input and model updates.
  • Built-in Testing
    Ember.js has built-in testing support, making it easier to write and run tests for applications. This facilitates the development of robust, maintainable, and bug-free code.
  • Focused on Large Applications
    Ember.js is particularly well-suited for ambitious, large-scale applications due to its structure and built-in best practices, which promote maintainability and scalability.

Possible disadvantages of ember.js

  • Steep Learning Curve
    Ember.js has a significant learning curve, particularly for developers who are new to its conventions and deep abstractions. This can be a barrier to entry for some.
  • Performance Overhead
    The comprehensive nature of Ember.js can lead to performance overhead, especially for smaller applications. The framework's rich feature set may be more than what is needed for simpler projects.
  • Less Flexibility
    The convention-over-configuration approach can reduce flexibility and make it harder to deviate from the prescribed way of doing things, which can be restrictive for developers who need more control.
  • Heavy Dependencies
    Ember.js applications can come with numerous dependencies, which can increase the bundle size and, subsequently, the load time of the application.
  • Slow to Adapt New Trends
    Being a mature framework, Ember.js can be slower to adopt the latest web development trends compared to newer frameworks, leading to potential lag in leveraging cutting-edge features.
  • Complexity in Customization
    While conventions can be beneficial, scenarios that require custom configurations can become complex and cumbersome, potentially complicating the development process.
  • Smaller Talent Pool
    Compared to more mainstream frameworks like React or Angular, there is a smaller pool of developers who are proficient in Ember.js, which can make hiring and collaboration more challenging.

Sails.js features and specs

  • MVC Architecture
    Sails.js follows a Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern, making it easier to organize and maintain code, particularly for larger applications.
  • Auto-Generated REST APIs
    Automatically generates RESTful APIs based on your models, saving development time and reducing boilerplate code.
  • WebSocket Support
    Built-in support for WebSockets allows for real-time features without needing additional configurations.
  • ORM Integration
    Waterline, Sails.js' built-in ORM, provides a straightforward way to interact with databases, supporting multiple database systems with the same codebase.
  • Modularity
    Encourages modular development by supporting hooks and middleware, which can be reused or extended for various functionalities.
  • Blueprints
    Blueprints provide automatic actions for basic CRUD operations, streamlining common tasks and making development faster.
  • Scalability
    Designed to be scalable, allowing you to build applications that can handle a large number of simultaneous connections.

Possible disadvantages of Sails.js

  • Learning Curve
    Although Sails.js simplifies many aspects of development, there is still a learning curve, especially for those not familiar with Node.js.
  • Performance Overhead
    The abstractions provided by Sails.js and its ORM can introduce performance overhead, potentially making it slower than more lightweight frameworks.
  • Limited Flexibility
    While the conventions in Sails.js can speed up development, they can also limit flexibility, making it harder to implement customized or unconventional features.
  • Community and Support
    The community and support for Sails.js are not as extensive as some other frameworks like Express.js, which might make troubleshooting and finding solutions more challenging.
  • Outdated Documentation
    Some parts of the documentation may be outdated, which can lead to confusion and require additional time to find updated resources or examples.

ember.js videos

What is Ember.js?

More videos:

  • Review - A preview of Ember.js Octane

Sails.js videos

Intro to Sails.js Framework for Next-Level Nodejs Backend Apps

More videos:

  • Review - Sails.js LOGIC 101: Dynamic data

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to ember.js and Sails.js)
Javascript UI Libraries
82 82%
18% 18
Web Frameworks
0 0%
100% 100
JavaScript Framework
65 65%
35% 35
Developer Tools
37 37%
63% 63

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare ember.js and Sails.js

ember.js Reviews

Top JavaScript Frameworks in 2025
Ember.JS is an open-source, JavaScript client-side framework that is useful for developing web applications. It provides a complete solution containing data management and application flow to develop an application, making it one of the reasons developers prefer to use it. Ember.JS also uses an MVVM architecture pattern along with a command-line interface tool that helps in...
Source: solguruz.com
20 Next.js Alternatives Worth Considering
Ember.js is old school cool, a framework that’s been whispering sweet nothings to devs for years, helping build ambitious web applications. It wraps its arms around conventions and provides everything you need to build rich, complex web UIs.
The 20 Best Laravel Alternatives for Web Development
Ember.js — the ambitious framework that promises a developer heaven, paving your road to productivity with a convention-over-configuration dogma and a solidly structured path.
9 Best JavaScript Frameworks to Use in 2023
Ember.js: Ember.js provides a lot of built-in features and conventions, making it easy to get started and build complex applications. It has a strong focus on developer productivity.
Source: ninetailed.io
JavaScript: What Are The Most Used Frameworks For This Language?
In addition, it offers a powerful command-line interface (CLI) that can generate boilerplate code and automate common tasks, making it easier to get started and build applications quickly. With a strong focus on performance, Ember.JS provides features like fast initial page loads, incremental rendering and advanced caching mechanisms.
Source: www.bocasay.com

Sails.js Reviews

Top 14 Node.JS Frameworks: Which Will Rule in 2020?
This is another real-time MVC web development Node.js framework created on Express. It builds the latest, data-driven style of APIs and web apps. Sails.js can develop an API bookstore.

Social recommendations and mentions

ember.js might be a bit more popular than Sails.js. We know about 32 links to it since March 2021 and only 26 links to Sails.js. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

ember.js mentions (32)

  • Embroider & Vite & net::ERR_ABORTED 504 (Outdated Optimize Dep)
    While working on EmberJS projects, I've been using pre-alpha version of @embroider/app-blueprint quite a lot lately and I hit a baffling error:. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • ResponsiveImage & EmberJS & glob vite imports
    I had a need to dynamically load a folder images in my EmberJS app that is using embroider-build/app-blueprint and ResponsiveImage. Turns out I could use vite glob imports and resulting code looked something like:. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • Installing EmberJS v2 addons from GitHub forks using PNPM
    If you're using PNPM as a package manager for your EmberJS project and you find yourself in a need to install a v2 addon from git(hub) fork (because you have a branch with patched version), then you might find that GitHub URLs in package.json tricks don't work for you. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • Add custom layer to embe-leaflet
    Ember-leaflet is a very popular addon from EmberJS ecosystem that allows a lot of flexibility. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • JavaScript frameworks: comparing the latest tools and libraries
    Ember.js is an opinionated framework for building ambitious web applications. It emphasizes convention over configuration. - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
View more

Sails.js mentions (26)

  • AdonisJS
    I haven't used either so I can't chime in on that front, but long ago I was pretty into Sails which is written by a team that loves rails, but switched to NodeJS so it's basically Node on Rails. I actually thought they discontinued it, but I just searched and it still exists. It was a solid framework like 5 years ago when I used it last so I assume it's quite mature now. https://sailsjs.com/. - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • Choosing the best JavaScript framework for your next project
    Sails is a realtime JavaScript framework built on top of Express. Sails offers built-in realtime communication support and a flexible routing system. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Best NodeJS frameworks for seamless backend development
    Sails is a realtime MVC framework for NodeJS built on top of Express. Sails has a flexible routing system and comes with built-in realtime communication support. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • The Ascent of Node.js: How a runtime changed the Web
    Sails.js: Sails.js pitched itself as the MVC framework for Node.js, bringing a Rails-like experience while being database agnostic. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • WebSockets 101
    Disclaimer: I didn't know much about Websockets 1 week ago, all the experience I had with Websockets was when I developed a chat application back in 2016 using a JS framework that tried to be a Ruby on Rails implementation called SailsJS, so I decided to research about this technology and consumed multiple resources which I will link in this blog post and each section. - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing ember.js and Sails.js, you can also consider the following products

AngularJS - AngularJS lets you extend HTML vocabulary for your application. The resulting environment is extraordinarily expressive, readable, and quick to develop.

ExpressJS - Sinatra inspired web development framework for node.js -- insanely fast, flexible, and simple

Vue.js - Reactive Components for Modern Web Interfaces

ASP.NET - ASP.NET is a free web framework for building great Web sites and Web applications using HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

Backbone.js - Give your JS App some Backbone with Models, Views, Collections, and Events

Nest.js - A progressive Node.js framework for building efficient, reliable and scalable server-side applications.