Ruby on Rails or Node.js? Which is better for e-commerce websites? [closed]

Question

I'm making an e-commerce website which deals with medicines, big number of them. I can't choose between Ruby on Rails and Node.js. Can someone tell me which would be more helpful?

I just need some opinions. Thanks

Answer 1

You'll mostly get biased and opinionated answers to this question.

Both are very good choices, but you should pick what you're more familiar (or if you plan on learning, what you're more comfortable with). Also, you need to think about the platform you'll be deploying on: can you install additional software (like libraries) on it? Can you use gem (Ruby) or npm(Node.js) to install additional requirements you might need?

It's all very relative to you. They are both excellent tools.

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Note: Following answer is probablydefinitely opinionated.

I'd say Rails, because it could (in my experience) be faster & easier to work with.

Performance-wise, I think node.js might be slightly better, but unless you're going to have a lot of traffic, it shouldn't matter.

Also, don't forget there's always Unicorn (MRI/CRuby) or Puma (JRuby, Rubinius), and combining those two with nginx, and you're on a horse! Well, on a puma or on a unicorn, technically... So, that would solve your performance issue, if one were to occur.

Also, Ruby (it is humanist, afterall) is a much more elegant language than JavaScript , although, you can get around its subjective uglyness[1] with CoffeeScript.

It comes down to preference, in the end. I love both, but I slightly prefer Ruby than JavaScript, and I also slightly prefer Rails over Node.js.

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[1]: I don't find it ugly personally.

Answer 2

From a technology standpoint, both are very capable. It's going to be down to your preference and situation as to which one you choose.

However if this is a commercial project then I would say that the undoubted winner is going to be ruby. It's more mature than node and so enjoys better tooling, better "google-ability", and you are going to find it far easier to find staff that have experience developing and debugging it. These considerations are going to be far more important for most projects than a pure technical comparison.