Ruby on Rails VS Padrino

Ruby on Rails open source projects. Contribute and learn at the same time.

Speed of Development: Frameworks such as Django or Rails accelerate the development process.

This ecosystem is fueled by repositories hosting powerful languages, functions, and versatile tools—from backend frameworks like Django and Ruby on Rails to containerization with Docker and distributed version control via Git. Moreover, indie hackers can also utilize open source design tools (e.g. GIMP, Inkscape) and analytics platforms such as Matomo.

Frameworks such as Django and Ruby on Rails simplify web development, while tools like Docker ensure consistency across environments.

Ruby on Rails (RoR) is one of the most renowned web frameworks. When combined with SQL databases, RoR transforms into a powerhouse for developing back-end (or even full-stack) applications. It resolves numerous issues out of the box, sometimes without developers even realizing it. For example, with the right callbacks, complex business logic for a single API action is automatically wrapped within a transaction, ensuring ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability) compliance. This removes many potential concerns from the developer’s plate. Typically, developers only need to define a functional data model and adhere to the framework’s conventions — sounds easy, right?

As it's just you I'd stick with Ruby on Rails 8[1] as you already know it and I think it could realistically easily achieve what you're proposing.

There's lots of libraries to for calling out external AI services. e.g. something like FastMCP[2] From the sound of it that's all you need.

I'd use Hotwire[3] for the frontend and Hotwire Native if you want to rollout an app version quickly. I'd back it with SolidCache, SolidQueue, etc

I'd use Kamal[4] to run it on cheap hosting using on something cheap from Hetzner.

1. https://rubyonrails.org/

2. https://github.com/yjacquin/fast-mcp

3. https://hotwired.dev/

4. https://kamal-deploy.org/

Once again, Rails is ahead of the curve on this:

https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/54693

One of the standout benefits of open source software is its cost-effectiveness. Indie hackers can leverage robust tools such as MySQL and Python, which eliminate the financial barrier to high-quality software solutions. Frameworks like Django and Ruby on Rails enable swift development cycles, reducing the time-to-market for innovative ideas. This low-cost, high-efficiency approach allows entrepreneurs to focus on their core missions without worrying about expensive licensing fees.

Rails 8 New Features

Padrino’s benchmark metrics also reveal that it is four times faster than Rails. You can access Padrino through its GitHub page.