It’s a question that I’m seeing on an increasing basis as I venture through the Internet. I’ve seen it appear on a few forum sites and it has appeared in a couple of newsletters that I subscribe to.

Before we answer the question, let’s take a brief look at the history of Rails. 10 years ago the first version of Ruby on Rails dropped. It caused a stir due to the ease with which web applications could be made. In that time it’s moved on through four major versions, had hundreds of releases and has been the collective work of hundreds of software developers who have devoted their free time to making Ruby on Rails what it is today.

Since then there’s been a search for the next killer web framework that will replace Ruby on Rails. 10 years on I’d say we’re still waiting. No other web framework has had the impact that Ruby on Rails has.

So is Ruby on Rails still relevant?

Definitely yes. While a lot of developers have adopted and then moved onto other languages and frameworks, there is still a large amount of developers that specialise in Ruby on Rails. The market for Ruby on Rails developers for full-time and contract work is still healthy. There’s also still a large amount of companies and organisations that need Ruby on Rails developers to maintain web applications and there’s still a demand for these developers with Greenfield projects as well.

It’s not as highly a sought after as it was maybe five years ago, but it’s still a relevant technology as well as a mature technology. It’s been tried and tested by many developers and it’s benefits for building web applications is well known now. Given that companies would rather not risk building an application in a new and unfamiliar technology, Ruby on Rails is now seen as a mature web framework that has grown up over the years.

Ruby on Rails will be relevant for at least the next five years and possibly the next ten years. From there, who knows. As long as it is a low-risk technology for clients, I’ll keep recommending Rails for projects that it is a good fit for.