“Is Rails better for full-stack development?” is a question I see a lot.

The person asking is typically a full-stack JS developer that is overwhelmed by the sea of frameworks to choose from.

In this post we will see what sets Rails apart from full-stack JS to decide if Rails is better.

Full-Stack JS vs Rails

Let’s compare the philosophies of Rails and full-stack JS.

Rails is a convenient bundle of tools for building full-stack web apps, written in Ruby. It comes with a frontend, REST API Layer, ORM, Job Scheduler, Tailwind CSS Support (new!), and more.

In full-stack JS you pick the frontend library, backend framework, CSS libs, and ORM yourself. This tends to overwhelm beginning web devs.

Rails’s goal is to set you up with a stable foundation of tools to building production-ready full-stack apps. This will probably sound like music to the ears of full-stack JS beginners.

Is Rails Better for Full-Stack Apps?

“Better” is a dirty word when discussing subjective matters. Let’s instead focus on the circumstances in which Rails outshines Full-Stack JS.

Rails is better than full-stack JS if you…

• want a Swiss army knife for building full-stack web apps quickly
• want a full-stack framework that feels knowable and well-defined
• don’t mind writing frontends in HTML/CSS
• are tired of Framework FOMO
• are interested in learning Ruby

Rails, the full-stack swiss army knife (pizza sold separately)

Rails is worth learning if at least 3 of these points resonate.

Conclusion

If you are overwhelmed by full-stack JS, Rails will be a breath of fresh air. Rails helps you ship quickly by choosing many things for you out of the box.

If you are looking to invest in a comprehensive framework that helps you ship faster, Rails is a great choice. I highly recommend you check it out.

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The post Full-Stack JS is Insane… Is Rails better? first appeared on 💻 Web Dev With Seb.