Laravel Vs Ruby on Rails: Checkout the Difference Between

When comparing Ruby on Rails vs Laravel, we believe Ruby on Rails is a better choice for most clients. This might raise a question in your mind – Is Ruby better than Laravel? Well, for most cases, yes. But that doesn’t necessarily make it the right choice for your organization.

Often clients make the mistake of wanting to go with the most popular choice available, without rationalizing their requirements and finding the right fit accordingly. We will compare both these popular web backend frameworks from an objective point of view, for you to make the right choice.

Laravel vs Ruby on Rails – Why use Laravel?

Initial Release – Jun 2011 | Latest Stable Release – 9.2.1 | Created by – Taylor Otwell

Let’s start with why Laravel.

As you can clearly see in the Google Trends comparison of the most popular PHP frameworks, Laravel is another league all together. It surpasses other PHP frameworks by a clear margin and powers more than 1,50,751 sites today. So clearly Laravel is doing something right. Laravel is an open-source PHP framework that comes with many unique features and speeds up the web app development process. Here are the top benefits of using Laravel as your backend-framework:

Benefits of using Laravel for your web app

Here are the various benefits Laravel brings to a project:

Ruby on Rails vs Laravel – Why use Ruby on Rails?

Ruby on Rails solely deserves the credit behind the overnight popularity of the Rails programming language. While there are other Rails based frameworks such as Sinatra, Padrino and Ramaze, they are barely used for any projects. Ruby on Rails is an open-source back-end web development framework that follows object-oriented programming which resembles Peri and Python. It is widely popular amongst startups and SMEs due its ability to enable rapid prototyping, building MVPs faster than most other frameworks and simplification of backend development processes.

Benefits of using Ruby on Rails for your web app

Here the various benefits of using Ruby on Rails as your backend framework:

Ruby on Rails vs Laravel Tabular Differences

Before diving deep into the detailed comparison between Ruby on Rails and Laravel we should go through some of the basic yet fundamental differences between the two frameworks:

Ruby on Rails vs Laravel 2024 – Ultimate Comparison

Now that we have a fair understanding of both these frameworks, its time to bid them against each other on some of the most important factors that you should keep in mind before deciding which is a better fit for your requirements. Let’s understand the differences between Laravel and Ruby and Rails first:

Ruby on Rails vs Laravel Market Share and Popularity Comparison

We need to compare the market share of Ruby on Rails and Laravel to get an insight of how well it is perceived globally. Here we have compiled some of the most reliable market share comparison sites to give you a better idea:

Ruby on Rails vs Laravel SimilarTech Comparison

Here are some interesting insights from SimilarTech about Laravel vs Ruby on Rails:

Ruby on Rails vs Laravel Stack Overflow Survey 2022

In the recently released Stack Overflow Survey 2022, Laravel leads the competition to Ruby on Rails in terms of preferred backend framework with 9.45% respondents vote whereas Ruby on Rails falls behind with 5.83% respondents vote.

Ruby on Rails vs Laravel GitHub Comparison

To truly gauge any framework’s market share, it is imperative to have a look at their GitHub ratings as GitHub is one of the most popular code hosting platforms for version controlling and collaboration. Here is an insight into how the two compares in terms of GitHub scores:

Ruby on Rails vs Laravel StackOverflow Trends

StackOverflow is the go-to forum for all development queries and discussions. Hence the number of questions asked for each platform indicates interest around that framework by developers and clients globally. Here is how the graph looks:

As you can clearly see, Ruby on Rails started with a soaring high but with passing time the interest over time is reducing drastically whereas Laravel had a slow start but has managed rising in the percent of questions asked with each passing year.

Laravel vs Ruby on Rails Google Trends

As we can clearly see in Laravel vs Ruby on Rails Google Trends comparison, Laravel has maintained a higher interest over time than Ruby on Rails, with still rising interest whereas ROR is declining even further.

Ruby on Rails vs Laravel Syntax Comparison

Syntax refers to the needed combination and sequence of different characters that define the rules that help structure a language. Rules in syntax are to make sure that the code written in the programming language is always readable and easy to manage. Not following or having proper syntax rules could throw errors on the computer and they can break your web apps. Ruby on Rails and Laravel have different approach to syntax.

Ruby on Rails Syntax

Ruby is a flexible, dynamic and powerful language. It offers great flexibility when it comes to how to write the syntax of your ROR code. Most of Ruby on Rails syntax can be read almost as natural language sentences. It is easier to write cleaner code in ROR than Laravel.

Laravel Syntax

Laravel syntax is not as easy sailing as ROR. It is more chaotic and difficult to read and understand. Hence Laravel is not necessarily the most beginner-friendly but its syntax supports large number of DDD architectural approaches.

Laravel vs Ruby on Rails Security Comparison

Proper security standards are paramount for any kind of web application you’re developing. It becomes more significant if you are developing an BSFI web app, but other kind of web apps also require basic security to safeguard themselves against exploiters and bugs. Your web app framework should be able to provide provisions for preventing various kind of cyberattacks such as CSRF, SQL Injection and others.

 Let’s see how Laravel vs Ruby on Rails handle security:

Is Laravel Secure?

Laravel has inbuilt security features making it more secure than most PHP frameworks. It also provides many options for Laravel developers to further secure their Laravel app. There are many Laravel security best practices that you can follow to ensure code safety and protection of sensitive data.

Also Read: Laravel Security Best Practices

Is Ruby on Rails Secure?

Rails is proven to be one of the safest web app frameworks provided you are skilled enough to identify its security problems and have skilled developers that know how to fix them. There are more security vulnerabilities in Ruby on Rails so you would need to hire dedicated Ruby on Rails developers from a trustworthy and professional IT company.

Ruby on Rails vs Laravel Testing Capabilities

Proper testing provisions are essential for a powerful web application. Hence it is important that the framework you select has the right testing capabilities to efficiently test your web app thoroughly. Ruby on Rails and Laravel both take different approach to testing apps based on their respective technologies.

Ruby on Rails Testing Approach

Rails is designed to have a test-driven development approach and it is very easy to write tests in ROR. When you create your Rails test cases and run your app through it, it ensures that your code adheres to every existing functionality even after refactoring the code drastically. You can also stimulate browser requests in ROR which can help you test how your app responses without needing to test it on an actual browser.

Ruby on Rails Testing Tools

There are many available testing tools for Ruby on Rails that can be used to test different aspects of your web app project. Here are the top Ruby on Rails testing tools:

Laravel Testing Approach

Laravel also is built keeping proper testing practices in mind. It includes PHPUnit testing capability out of the box and you also get a pre-setup phpunit.xml file for your Laravel app. It also comes with many convenient helper methods that eases testing your Laravel web app. Laravel automatically sets up your configuration environment for testing.

Laravel Testing Tools

Writing tests in Laravel can be made just as easy, if you have the right tools at your disposal. Here are some of the efficient and trusted Laravel testing tools we often leverage:

Laravel Vs Ruby on Rails Performance Comparison

Performance is one of the first things anyone would compare when selecting their ideal backend framework for their web app project. You would have questions like is Ruby on Rails faster than Laravel? Or is Laravel faster? Which performs better? Performance is a very subjective matter and it depends on how you compare it.

Web Frameworks Benchmark Comparison – Laravel vs Ruby on Rails Development Speed

Here is a proper speed and performance comparison between Rails 7 and Laravel 9.2.1 conducted by Web Frameworks Benchmark Comparison:

Laravel Performance Potential

Laravel is known for delivering impressive web app performance. By leveraging the right tools and experienced talents you can massively increase the speed of developing web pages. What makes Laravel stand out from Ruby on Rails is the speed of code isn’t affected by the production environment.

Rails Performance Potential

General perception in the market is that Rails is slow, however we have found this to be more of a myth. Rails is a pretty straightforward framework without any hassles. However, if not correctly optimized, it could lead to poor performing web apps. Some tasks are better handled by other tools. Poorly handling memory optimization leads to slower Rails app since it increases the load on Ruby Garage Collector. Hence with proper memory optimization techniques Rails performance can be improved significantly.

Also Check – 10+ Top Ruby Frameworks to Use in 2024

Architecture Pattern Differences between Ruby on Rails and Laravel

Architecture pattern is referred to a general, reusable solution to a frequent task/problem in any particular software architecture. How each framework handles their architecture pattern defines their robustness and flexibility to a great extent. Here is a quick comparison between Ruby on Rails and Laravel architecture patterns.

Ruby on Rails Architecture

Ruby on Rails implements the MVC architecture design pattern for reducing clutter and keeping things organized. This enables ROR apps to adopt the fat mode, skinny controller goal.

Laravel Architecture

Laravel is also more or less based on MVC architecture design pattern and at par with Ruby on Rails when it comes to having a solid foundation and great architecture.

Both Laravel and Ruby follow different architecture patterns such as:

Ruby on Rails vs Laravel Scalability

Scalability is an important consideration to keep in mind when deciding your web app framework since it would help you accommodate higher traffic and complex functionalities in your web app when your business booms and expands.

Can Rails scale?

Ruby on Rails apps are easily scalable since the language Ruby allows horizontal scaling and thread-safety. This means your Rails project can easily handle more traffic with the help of additional processes and adding additional servers.

Can Laravel scale?

Laravel is also highly scalable since its programming language PHP is built with scalability in mind. You need to select the right tech stack to achieve the best horizontal scaling for your Laravel web app.

Laravel vs Ruby on Rails Use Cases

One of the most important comparison points to select the right framework for your backend requirements is to first understand your use cases. Some projects will be better suited for Ruby on Rails whereas others would work efficiently on Laravel. Here is a selecting guide that could help you –

Choose Ruby on Rails when…

1. You want to develop an ecommerce app

Most Shopify and Spree Commerce apps are generally backed by Ruby on Rails which itself tells much about the capabilities of Ruby on Rails as a backend framework for ecommerce apps.  You can quickly create your ecommerce store with Ruby on Rails. Gems in ROR help you serve specific requirements and integrate functions for your ecommerce store.

2. When you want to develop custom web apps

Ruby on Rails is a better answer for custom web apps unless you are expecting exceptional traffic on your site. If you need to develop a niche web app with proper functionalities and cost-effective budget, Ruby on Rails is the better choice.

Choose Laravel when…

1. You want to develop enterprise-grade apps

Laravel is better equipped to handle enterprise grade and complex web apps that need to handle larger number of requests per second. It comes with many helpful features such as Eloquent Object Relational Mapper, Active Record Implementation, Unit Testing support and others that make it a suitable framework for enterprise apps.

2. Apps with high-level security

Laravel outperforms Rails in terms of security with its bycrypt hashing calculation, arranged SQL and hashed secret words, so if you need a secure app solution go for Laravel.

Wrapping up!

This is your ultimate guide to choosing the right framework for your project between Ruby on Rails and Laravel. Both Laravel and Ruby on Rails are capable of powering some of the best web app projects that are highly performing, secure and scalable.