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/ tool-comparisons / Rails vs Laravel for Solo Developers

tool-comparisons • February 17, 2025 • 4 min read

Rails vs Laravel for Solo Developers

Comparing Rails and Laravel for solo developers - features, pricing, DX, and which to pick for your next project.

Rails vs Laravel for Solo Developers

If you prefer Ruby and want convention-over-configuration with a modern frontend approach via Hotwire, pick Rails. If you prefer PHP and want an unmatched first-party ecosystem with painless deployment via Forge, pick Laravel.

What is Ruby on Rails?

Ruby on Rails is the framework that popularized rapid web development. Convention over configuration means Rails makes opinionated decisions about project structure, naming, and patterns so you can focus on building features. ActiveRecord ORM, Hotwire for interactive frontends, Action Mailer for emails, Action Cable for WebSockets. It is a complete toolkit that has been battle-tested since 2004.

What is Laravel?

Laravel is the PHP framework that brought elegance to the PHP ecosystem. Eloquent ORM, Blade templates, built-in auth scaffolding, queues, task scheduling, and an entire universe of first-party tools make it a complete development platform. Forge for deployment, Vapor for serverless, Nova for admin panels, Cashier for subscriptions. Laravel's official ecosystem is broader than any other framework.

Feature Comparison

Feature	Rails	Laravel
Type	Full-stack Ruby framework	Full-stack PHP framework
Language	Ruby	PHP
ORM	ActiveRecord	Eloquent
Admin Panel	Gems (rails_admin, Avo)	Nova ($199)
Auth System	Devise / built-in	Breeze / Jetstream
Frontend	Hotwire (Turbo + Stimulus)	Livewire / Inertia
Deployment	Kamal (free), Render	Forge ($12/mo), Vapor
Queue System	Solid Queue / Sidekiq	Built-in (Horizon for monitoring)
Learning Curve	Moderate	Moderate
Community	Large, loyal	Very large, growing
Pricing	Free, open source	Free, open source
Job Market	Smaller but premium	Very large (PHP dominance)

When to Pick Rails

Choose Rails when you value convention over configuration and want the framework to make structural decisions for you. Rails has strong opinions about how to organize code, name files, and structure database relationships. For solo developers, those opinions remove decision fatigue and keep you moving.

Rails with Hotwire is particularly compelling for solo developers who want interactive UIs without a JavaScript build step. Turbo handles page updates over the wire, and Stimulus adds behavior with minimal JavaScript. You build a modern-feeling application entirely in Ruby.

Kamal, Rails' official deployment tool, deploys Docker containers to any VPS for free. If you do not want to pay for deployment tooling and are comfortable with basic Docker concepts, Kamal gives you a solid deployment pipeline without monthly costs.

When to Pick Laravel

Choose Laravel when you want the smoothest deployment and operations experience. Forge manages server provisioning, deployment, SSL certificates, and database backups for $12 per month. For solo developers who do not want to think about server management, Forge is hard to beat.

Laravel's first-party ecosystem is its strongest advantage. Cashier handles Stripe and Paddle subscriptions. Socialite manages OAuth with dozens of providers. Horizon gives you a beautiful queue monitoring dashboard. These are not community packages with uncertain maintenance. They are official tools built and maintained by the Laravel team.

If you are already in the PHP world, Laravel is the obvious choice. PHP runs 77% of the web, hosting is cheap and available everywhere, and the Laravel community produces excellent tutorials and packages.

Solo Developer Verdict

This is one of the closest matchups for solo developers. Both frameworks are batteries-included, both prioritize developer happiness, and both have excellent ecosystems. You genuinely cannot make a wrong choice here.

Laravel gets a slight edge for solo developers because of Forge's deployment simplicity and the breadth of official first-party tools. But Rails' convention-over-configuration philosophy and Hotwire's JavaScript-free interactivity are equally compelling.

The honest advice: pick the language you enjoy writing. If Ruby makes you happy, use Rails. If PHP is your language, use Laravel. Both will get your product to market quickly, and the framework differences matter far less than consistent effort and execution.