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Ruby on Rails VS Heroku

Compare Ruby on Rails VS Heroku and see what are their differences

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Ruby on Rails logo Ruby on Rails

Ruby on Rails is an open source full-stack web application framework for the Ruby programming...

Heroku logo Heroku

Agile deployment platform for Ruby, Node.js, Clojure, Java, Python, and Scala. Setup takes only minutes and deploys are instant through git. Leave tedious server maintenance to Heroku and focus on your code.
  • Ruby on Rails Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-23

We recommend LibHunt Ruby for discovery and comparisons of trending Ruby projects. Also, to find more open-source ruby alternatives, you can check out libhunt.com/r/rails

  • Heroku Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-05

Ruby on Rails features and specs

  • Rapid Development
    Ruby on Rails uses conventions over configurations which allows developers to build applications quickly. It comes with a wealth of built-in tools and libraries that streamline the development process.
  • Community Support
    Rails has a vibrant and active community. This means a lot of third-party libraries (gems) are available, and you can easily find help and resources.
  • Convention over Configuration
    Rails emphasizes convention over configuration, which reduces the number of decisions developers need to make. This can increase productivity and consistency across projects.
  • Built-in Testing
    Rails comes with a strong built-in testing framework, making it easier to test your application and ensure that it works as expected.
  • Scalability Options
    Although it has a reputation for not being the most scalable framework, Rails can be made scalable with good architecture and the right tools.
  • RESTful Design
    Rails promotes RESTful application design, which means that it aligns well with best practices in web development and makes it easier to build APIs.

Possible disadvantages of Ruby on Rails

  • Performance
    Ruby on Rails can be slower than some other frameworks, particularly for applications that require a lot of computation or have high traffic.
  • Learning Curve
    While Rails makes many things easier with its conventions, this can create a steep learning curve for newcomers who need to understand the 'Rails way' of doing things.
  • Scalability Concerns
    Due to its monolithic nature, scaling Rails can be challenging, requiring significant architectural changes and optimizations.
  • Lesser Flexibility
    The conventions that make Rails easy to use can also be limiting. When you need to do something outside the typical Rails flow, it may be harder to implement.
  • Runtime Speed
    Ruby, the language that Rails is built on, is generally slower in terms of execution speed compared to other languages like Java or C++.
  • Memory Consumption
    Rails applications can consume a lot of memory, which can be a concern for large-scale applications or those with limited resources.

Heroku features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    Heroku offers an extremely user-friendly interface and a high level of abstraction, making it easy for developers to deploy, manage, and scale applications without worrying about the underlying infrastructure.
  • Quick Deployment
    One of Heroku’s strongest points is the ability to deploy applications quickly using Git. Developers can push their code to Heroku with a simple command, streamlining the entire process.
  • Scalability
    Heroku provides effortless scaling options by allowing developers to add more dynos (containers) with a single command to handle increased traffic and workload.
  • Add-Ons Ecosystem
    Heroku offers a rich ecosystem of add-ons, such as databases, caching, monitoring, and more, which can be easily integrated into applications to extend their functionality.
  • Automatic Updates
    Heroku automatically handles operating system and server updates, allowing developers to focus solely on their application code rather than maintenance tasks.
  • Free Tier
    Heroku offers a free tier with sufficient resources to host small projects and learn the platform without incurring costs, making it accessible for beginners and small-scale applications.

Possible disadvantages of Heroku

  • Cost
    While Heroku offers a free tier, the costs can quickly add up for larger applications and professional use. Paid plans and additional dynos or add-ons can become expensive.
  • Performance
    Heroku’s performance can sometimes be suboptimal compared to other cloud providers, particularly when running high-performance or resource-intensive applications.
  • Limited Control
    Heroku abstracts away a lot of infrastructure management, which can be a downside for developers who need fine-grained control over their environments and configurations.
  • Dyno Sleeping
    Applications running on Heroku’s free tier experience 'dyno sleeping,' where the application goes to sleep after 30 minutes of inactivity, causing a delay when it wakes up after receiving a new request.
  • Vendor Lock-In
    Relying heavily on Heroku’s ecosystem and platform-specific features can lead to vendor lock-in, making it challenging to migrate to another platform if needed.
  • Add-On Costs
    The costs for add-ons can also become significant, as many useful features and integrations require paid add-ons, increasing the overall expense.

Ruby on Rails videos

+ Add

Ruby On Rails Biggest Waste Of Time In 2020 | Ruby on Rails Dead

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Ruby on Rails Tutorial | Build a Book Review App - Part 1

Heroku videos

+ Add

What is Heroku | Ask a Dev Episode 14

More videos:

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Ruby on Rails and Heroku)

Ruby on Rails

Heroku

Developer Tools
66 66%
Developer Tools
34% 34
Cloud Computing
0 0%
Cloud Computing
100% 100
Web Frameworks
100 100%
Web Frameworks
0% 0
Cloud Hosting
0 0%
Cloud Hosting
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Ruby on Rails and Heroku

Ruby on Rails Reviews

  1. Stan
    · Founder at SaaSHub ·
    The most productive web framework

    Yes, there are other more trending frameworks; however, nothing reaches the productivity of Rails. It's simply unbeatable if you have a small team.

    For example both SaaSHub and LibHunt were built on Rails.

    🏁 Competitors: Django, Laravel
Top 9 best Frameworks for web development
The best frameworks for web development include React, Angular, Vue.js, Django, Spring, Laravel, Ruby on Rails, Flask and Express.js. Each of these frameworks has its own advantages and distinctive features, so it is important to choose the framework that best suits the needs of your project.
Source: www.kiwop.com
Top 5 Laravel Alternatives
In terms of documentation, guidelines, and libraries, Ruby on Rails is the superior framework for smaller applications. Since it entered the online scene before Laravel, its community is larger and more well-liked among programmers. When compared to other Laravel alternatives, Ruby’s code is much simpler to understand and write.
Source: www.etatvasoft.com
Top 10 Phoenix Framework Alternatives
While modern frameworks try to minimize the tradeoffs to a limited extent, none of them has come closer to the implementation of the Phoenix Framework, which offers Ruby on Rails levels of productivity while being one of the fastest frameworks available in the market.
Source: blog.back4app.com
10 Ruby on Rails Alternatives For Web Development in 2022
Once a prolific web development technology, in 2021, both Ruby and Ruby on Rails are considered dying technologies. The data speaks for itself. In October 2021, Ruby lost 3 ranks in the Tiobe Index compared to October 2020 and became the 16th most searched programming language. The same decline in Ruby on Rails popularity is demonstrated by Google Trends. The language...
Source: www.ideamotive.co
Get Over Ruby on Rails — 3 Alternative Web Frameworks Worth Checking Out
Disclaimer: I started working on this article before the big controversy about Basecamp happened. I don’t want to make any point about this in the article. Regardless of what DHH and others are saying on different topics, Ruby on Rails is still a great piece of software and will continue to be. But there are some great alternatives as well that I would like to highlight.
Source: betterprogramming.pub

Heroku Reviews

  1. mark-mercer
    Useful Cloud Platform

    Great service to build, run and manage applications entirely in the cloud!

    🏁 Competitors: Amazon AWS, Dokku on Digital Ocean, Firebase
    👍 Pros:    Easy user interface|Good customer service|Multi-language cloud application platform
    👎 Cons:    Limitation with some addons|Low network performance
  2. jamestelford
    · Full Stack Developer at OutDev ·
    🏁 Competitors: Docker, Amazon AWS
    👍 Pros:    Powerful development environments|Great value for the money|Great customer support|Paas
10 Top Firebase Alternatives to Ignite Your Development in 2024
Heroku’s focus on simplicity and developer experience makes it a perfect fit for those who want to focus on building their apps, not babysitting servers. Startups and small businesses, in particular, can benefit from Heroku’s ability to accelerate development and deployment, allowing them to get their ideas to market faster.
Source: genezio.com
2023 Firebase Alternatives: Top 10 Open-Source & Free
Heroku Postgres – Majority of businesses like Heroku because of its SQL database support. Yes, PostgreSQL as a service is an appealing product of this PaaS vendor with quick deployment approaches.
Source: digitalcruch.com
5 Free Heroku Alternatives with Free Plan for Developers
Koyeb is a decent alternative to Heroku that you can consider for hosting or deploying your web apps and APIs. It has all the features of Heroku that you will need for your projects. So far, I have not encountered an importer tool for migrating Heroku deployments but I am sure doing that manually will not be that hard. Just like Heroku it offers you an intuitive web UI as...
Source: www.ilovefreesoftware.com
Choosing the best Next.js hosting platform
However, there are a few disadvantages to Heroku. First of all, despite its build pack, Heroku will run your project as a Node.js application. As a result, you will lose some of Next.js’ most interesting features, such as Incremental Static Regeneration. Analytics are replaced by metrics and measured throughput, response time, and memory usage (only on paid plans).
Source: blog.logrocket.com
Top 10 Netlify Alternatives
Heroku is another alternative to Netlify that doesn’t only host static websites but has the ability to host dynamic websites. This PaaS platform was launched in 2007 and conferred highly scalable features to deploy, host and launch applications.
Source: blog.back4app.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Ruby on Rails should be more popular than Heroku. It has been mentiond 140 times since March 2021. 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.

Ruby on Rails mentions (140)

  • Indie Hacking with Open Source Tools: Innovating on a Budget
    This ecosystem is fueled by repositories hosting powerful languages, functions, and versatile tools—from backend frameworks like Django and Ruby on Rails to containerization with Docker and distributed version control via Git. Moreover, indie hackers can also utilize open source design tools (e.g. GIMP, Inkscape) and analytics platforms such as Matomo. - Source: dev.to / about 9 hours ago
  • Charybdis ORM: Building High-Performance Distributed Rust Backends with ScyllaDB
    Ruby on Rails (RoR) is one of the most renowned web frameworks. When combined with SQL databases, RoR transforms into a powerhouse for developing back-end (or even full-stack) applications. It resolves numerous issues out of the box, sometimes without developers even realizing it. For example, with the right callbacks, complex business logic for a single API action is automatically wrapped within a transaction,... - Source: dev.to / 10 days ago
  • Ask HN: What's the ideal stack for a solo dev in 2025
    As it's just you I'd stick with Ruby on Rails 8[1] as you already know it and I think it could realistically easily achieve what you're proposing. There's lots of libraries to for calling out external AI services. e.g. Something like FastMCP[2] From the sound of it that's all you need. I'd use Hotwire[3] for the frontend and Hotwire Native if you want to rollout an app version quickly. I'd back it with... - Source: Hacker News / about 1 month ago
  • Open Source: A Goldmine for Indie Hackers – Unleashing Creativity and Collaboration
    One of the standout benefits of open source software is its cost-effectiveness. Indie hackers can leverage robust tools such as MySQL and Python, which eliminate the financial barrier to high-quality software solutions. Frameworks like Django and Ruby on Rails enable swift development cycles, reducing the time-to-market for innovative ideas. This low-cost, high-efficiency approach allows entrepreneurs to focus on... - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • Indie Hacking with Open Source Tools: Innovating on a Budget
    Frameworks such as Django and Ruby on Rails simplify web development, while tools like Docker ensure consistency across environments. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
View more

Heroku mentions (73)

  • How to deploy your web application? 3 different approaches to consider (+1 bonus)
    Providers include Digital Ocean, Heroku or Render for example. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Heroku Reviews Apps prevent delivering bugs on production
    Review Apps run the code in any GitHub PR in a complete, disposable Heroku application. Review Apps each have a unique URL you can share. It’s then super easy for anyone to try the new code. - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • How to keep an HTTP connection alive for 9 hours
    The app is deployed to Heroku and when it came time to switch the mode to email-on-account-creation mode, it was a very simple environment change:. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • How to Process Scheduled Queue Jobs in Node.js with BullMQ and Redis on Heroku
    Heroku is a cloud platform that makes it easy to deploy and scale web applications. It provides a number of features that make it ideal for deploying background job applications, including:. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • I made a Bot.. How do I use it?
    Once you've created it you can host it locally (this means leaving the program running on your computer) or host it through a service online. I haven't personally tried this yet, but I believe you can use a site like heroku.com or other similar services. Source: almost 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Ruby on Rails and Heroku, you can also consider the following products

Laravel - A PHP Framework For Web Artisans

DigitalOcean - Simplifying cloud hosting. Deploy an SSD cloud server in 55 seconds.

Django - The Web framework for perfectionists with deadlines

Linode - We make it simple to develop, deploy, and scale cloud infrastructure at the best price-to-performance ratio in the market.

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

Amazon AWS - Amazon Web Services offers reliable, scalable, and inexpensive cloud computing services. Free to join, pay only for what you use.

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