Django vs Ruby on Rails

Published: February 24, 2012 2 min. read
Svitla Team
By Svitla Team
Web Development
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Don’t know what framework, Django or Ruby on Rails, will best fit your project? Then this post is for you.
There’s a Django vs Ruby on Rails debate with numerous web developers taking sides and insist that one is better than the other. Even though these frameworks have their respective advantages and disadvantages, the similarities are notable and doing comparison is unavoidable. In order to settle which framework is the right one for you have to learn more about them.

Origins

Django became known as a successful product of Lawrence Journal World and was originally designed to for their news web sites. It was released under a BSD license in July 2005. As Django authors say it was created to meet the fast deadlines of journalism websites, whilst at he same time keeping the development process clean and maintainable. On the other hand, Ruby on Rails emerged during the creation of the BaseCamp, an online project management tool. It was released a year prior to Django in July 2004.

Both frameworks were designed for the creation of complex database-driven websites. They both are also MVC. However, Ruby on Rails was released earlier and by 2006 was already widely recognized.

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Programming Languages

The primary difference between these frameworks is their programming languages. As you probably know Django web framework is based on Python while Ruby on Rails on Ruby. Both are dynamic general purpose object-oriented programming languages.

In terms of programming languages both web frameworks are relatively the same.

Top 5 Ruby on Rails Websites

  1. Twitter
  2. Github
  3. Groupon
  4. Shopify
  5. Yellow Pages

Top 4 Django Websites

  1. Washingtonpost
  2. Focus
  3. LJWorld
  4. Lawrence

Conclusion

As you can see both of the framework are very similar and it’s difficult to say which one is better. However, there’s a tendency to choose Ruby on Rails for community, classifieds and general purpose websites while Django for news and media websites.

Written by
Svitla Team
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FAQ

What are the main differences between Django and Ruby on Rails?

Django uses Python. Ruby on Rails uses Ruby. The two frameworks follow MVC and are meant for complex, database-driven sites. However, Django is preferred for news and media sites because of its journalistic background, while Ruby on Rails is more famous among community, classifieds, and general-purpose sites. They’re both mature open-source frameworks with strong communities behind them. The decision could also boil down to whether your team knows more about Python or Ruby.

Which framework is better for beginners: Django or Ruby on Rails?

Both Django and Ruby on Rails are powerful, mature frameworks that tend to break in similar directions. Choice between the two may then hinge more on your knowledge of Python (for Django) or Ruby (for Ruby on Rails), since both are dynamic, object-oriented languages. In truth, the “better” framework for a novice is frequently a matter of personal choice and the particular learning resources available to them.

How do Django and Rails compare in terms of performance and scalability?

Django and Ruby on Rails were made for fancy, database-heavy sites and can take on big projects. They’ve both shown they can handle busy sites from all sorts of fields. Picking between them usually comes down to what the project needs and who’s building it, rather than any significant differences in their speed or scalability.

What types of projects are best suited for Django versus Ruby on Rails?

Django tends to dominate the news and media sites since it was born out of journalism with an emphasis on clean, maintainable development for content-rich platforms. Ruby on Rails typically serves community, classifieds, and general-purpose sites. Both are highly flexible frameworks that can accommodate work across a large gamut of applications. Typical use cases fall within those strengths. That strength of fit may further hinge on individual plans and objectives for a project.

How does the community support and ecosystem differ between Django and Rails?

Django and Ruby on Rails have strong, active communities around them and well-established ecosystems. Ruby on Rails got to the buzz early, gaining an early advantage in terms of exposure and a fertile ground for contributors and resources to spring from. So it also has a very strong community, mainly among developers working on news, media, and content-driven sites. On the whole, you will find extensive documentation, plugins, and support in either of the frameworks; thereby making either a solid choice as far as community and ecosystem are concerned.