Ruby on Rails vs Laravel vs Django: Which Is Best For My Web App?

Picking the right framework is hard, but crucial. I’ve been a developer for over 10 years and, having used all of these throughout my career, I can attest that switching between frameworks is difficult — especially once you've started a project.

What is a framework? 🤷‍♂️

Frameworks are architectural design patterns serving as the foundation of your application. All frameworks come with lots of general functionalities pre-built so it’s easier to focus on what actually matters — building the unique aspects of your application, rather than reinventing the wheel.

When building a web application, I recommend using an MVC (Model-View-Controller) framework as it keeps your project code organised, well structured for maintenance, and scalable — ensuring the app is ready for the long-term. It can also save 70% of development time versus other methods!

With this in mind, let’s dive in and explore three of the most popular MVC frameworks (Django, Laravel, and Ruby on Rails) to help us make an informed decision.

How good is Django? 🐍

Great if... you like scripting languages like Lua, or have worked with Python before.

Django is a robust Python framework known for its 'batteries-included' philosophy, providing a wide array of built-in features that speed up development. It's scalable and secure, making it a popular choice for modern day applications. However, Django's steep learning curve and the complexity of its ORM (Object-Relational Mapping) can pose challenges for new developers.

Pros

• Scalability - Django is all about being able to build and scale up projects.
• Flexibility - Django is highly flexible as data is not tied to methods or resources.
• Python-based - Python is the leading programming language for AI.

Cons

• Complex - Not great for simple projects.
• Steep learning curve - Only expensive, experienced developers can work with it.
• Lack of convention - Every developer will do things differently.

Scores

• Security: 9/10
• Scalability: 9/10
• Development Time: 5/10
• Accessibility: 5/10
• Overall: 28/40

How good is Laravel? 🧱

Great if... you’ve worked with a CMS (Content Management System) built with PHP — perhaps in WordPress or Magento.

Laravel is a PHP framework known for its elegant syntax and developer-friendly features. It describes itself as emphasising simplicity and readability, making it accessible for developers of all skill levels. Laravel offers tools for tasks such as routing, authentication, and caching — as is industry standard for MVCs — which streamline the development process.

In my experience, however, I've never felt PHP was as developer-friendly as other languages I've used.

Pros

• Third-party extensions - Plugins for various functionalities (e.g. login systems).
• Updates 24/7 - There are updates released all the time.
• Accessible - It’s easy to get going if you’ve worked with PHP before.
• Lightweight - Doesn't come with bulky 'boilerplate' code.

Cons

• Not much comes built-in - Have to write LOTS of extra code to add complex features.
• Limited support - It's sometimes hard to find answers to code errors.
• Slow - Building with Laravel can take a while due to the limited built-in code.
• Updates 24/7 - Too many updates demands constant maintenance.

Scores

• Security: 7/10
• Scalability: 6/10
• Development Time: 5/10
• Accessibility: 8/10
• Overall: 26/40

How good is Ruby on Rails? 🛤️

Great if... you're looking to give your developers simple and readable code to work with.

Rails is known for its 'convention over configuration' approach and 'gems' ecosystem, which allows developers to quickly set up and deploy applications without having to write huge amounts of code.

Also known for being the original developer-friendly MVC framework, Rails is often credited with influencing other developers to create frameworks (like Laravel and Django). Despite its heritage, Rails retains a large and active community with regular functionality updates, ample resources, plugins, and support for developers.

I have the most experience with Ruby on Rails of the three, and I've built some powerful platforms using it. The main drawback as a product owner is that developers specialising in Ruby on Rails may be a little harder to find to kick off your project.

Pros

• De facto industry standard - Most frameworks were inspired by Rails.
• Developer-friendly - Development speed lends itself to high ROI.
• Highly scalable - With its advanced caching mechanisms, it's extremely scalable.
• Regularly updated - Highly active community on GitHub, Stack Overflow, etc.

Cons

• Monolithic - Complex apps' codebases can get quite large.
• Dependencies - Can make Rails updates a little more time-consuming.
• Old - Rails' initial release version turned 20 years old in July 2024.

Scores

• Security: 8/10
• Scalability: 8/10
• Development Time: 8/10
• Accessibility: 7/10
• Overall: 31/40

Which framework is best?

All MVC frameworks come packed with great benefits, however, Ruby on Rails tips the scales for me. Rails, even as the oldest in the game, still comes with huge advantages over other frameworks — even the UK Government uses Ruby on Rails for their web applications!

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