When should I pick Laravel over Ruby on Rails?

Pick Laravel if: The backend is the product — many models, an admin, jobs and emails.

When should I pick Ruby on Rails over Laravel?

Pick Ruby on Rails if: The backend is the product — many models, an admin, jobs and emails.

Which do more makers use for backend framework?

Among makers' products we track: Laravel 72, Ruby on Rails 23.

Are people switching from Laravel to Ruby on Rails?

Public GitHub pull requests since 2024-10-02: 3 from Ruby on Rails to Laravel.

Laravel vs Ruby on Rails for backend framework: which fits you

Which fits you

Choose Laravel if

The backend is the product — many models, an admin, jobs and emails

Use it whenYou want first-party tools for deploying and running the app, not just the framework.

Trade-offThe smoothest path runs through Laravel's paid add-ons.

Choose Ruby on Rails if

The backend is the product — many models, an admin, jobs and emails

Use it whenYou know Ruby and are building a CRUD-heavy web app end to end.

Trade-offA smaller hiring and library pool than JavaScript or Python.

At a glance

	Laravel	Ruby on Rails
Used by	72 makers' products	23 makers' products
Moved to it on GitHubpull requests since Oct 2024	3 from Ruby on Rails	fewer than 3
Downloads	★ 34.9k	★ 58.8k
Pricing	Framework is free (open source); paid add-ons exist (Forge, Vapor, Nova, Cloud). · paid from $5/mo (Laravel Cloud)	Free (open source).
Free tier	Yes	Yes
Open source	Yes · self-hostable	Yes · self-hostable

Who moves from one to the other

Public pull requests on GitHub since Oct 2024 whose title says "Laravel to Ruby on Rails" or the reverse — real code changes, by developers in general rather than makers only.

Ruby on Rails →

Laravel3 PRs

Analysis: Chatwoot Rails to Laravel API migration verificationmd-riaz/chatwoot · 2025-12-27
Verify Rails to Laravel API migration completeness for production readinessmd-riaz/chatwoot · 2025-12-27
Convert Peatio cryptocurrency exchange from Rails to Laravel 10+Decipheredmedia/PeatioCryptoExchange · 2025-11-10

All matching pull requests on GitHub ↗

Fewer than 3 pull requests move from Laravel to Ruby on Rails.

What makers say

Makers on using it for backend framework, from Product Hunt and Starter Story interviews, each linked to the source. Products with a page of their own and fuller notes first.

On Laravel

I use Bitbucket to manage my git repository and have Laravel Homestead running locally so I can test and work on my code in an environment that matches my production servers.

ClearCheckbook Money Management, the makerSep 2021 ↗

So, here’s what we use; Gmail (obvious) AWS as our cloud of choice Laravel Forge to deploy our product on servers Webflow to power our landing page Ghost to power our blog Transistor.fm to

Mailman, the makerDec 2021 ↗

We use Laravel as the backbone of our app. Thanks to it, we've been able to built this from the ground up in record time, and have it super easy to run and maintain.

Recurrr, the makerSep 2026 ↗

43 more on the Laravel page →

On Ruby on Rails

For development, I use my favorite web framework Ruby on Rails , with Bulma for the front-end, as it’s so beautiful and easy to use, it makes me look like I actually know front-end design.

Remote Game Jobs, the makerApr 2022 ↗

Using ROR 7.1 shipping is quite fast! With most of the boilerplate handled by the framework itself, it becomes easy to focus on features. Support for webSockets, auth and background jobs is awesome!

JetSnaps, the makerSep 2026 ↗

It's already a mature web framework so if I need to implement feature X, usually there's already a gem for it which I just need to install and configure.

Calm Jobs, the makerSep 2026 ↗

15 more on the Ruby on Rails page →

Loved and watch-outs

Themes that recur in makers' words and Hacker News comments, each linked to what it summarises.

Laravel

Most loved

First-party packages for billing, queues, WebSockets and UI let one developer build and run a large product from one codebase. PH PH 2 PH 3 HN
Eloquent ORM, authentication, rate limiting and protection against SQL injection and CSRF come built in instead of from scattered packages. PH PH 2 HN HN 2
Its documentation and community are strong enough that makers get an MVP running in days. PH PH 2 PH 3 PH 4

Watch-outs

The framework is a huge codebase on a dynamic language, which some see as a maintenance and type-safety risk next to Go. HN HN 2
PHP's shared-nothing runtime makes worker concurrency, memory use and real-time workloads harder to tune. HN HN 2

On Product Hunt: 5.0★, 65 reviews · mentioned most: fast development, robust ecosystem, strong community support

Ruby on Rails

Most loved

Strong conventions with auth, WebSockets and background jobs built in let solo founders and small teams ship an MVP fast. PH HN HN 2 HN 3
A mature gem ecosystem means most common features, like authentication with Devise, are an install away. PH HN
Its conventions constrain the choices an LLM makes, so agent-written Rails code comes out consistent. HN HN 2

Watch-outs

Ruby's runtime is slow, so scaling Rails often means throwing more instances at the load. HN HN 2
Its implicit magic is hard to understand, and customizing beyond the conventions gets difficult without knowing the internals. HN HN 2

On Product Hunt: 5.0★, 18 reviews · mentioned most: rapid development, API integration, fast prototyping