Ruby on Rails is one of the most used frameworks for building dynamic web applications. Its ease of use and vast ecosystem of tools and libraries have made Rails a go-to for many developers. However, choosing the right hosting provider is crucial for deploying, scaling, and managing your Rails applications.
In this comprehensive guide, we evaluate the best Rails hosting options across key criteria like performance, scalability, security, support, and pricing. Whether you’re launching a new web app or migrating existing projects, these top providers offer blazing-fast hosting optimized specifically for Ruby on Rails.
Factors to Consider When Choosing Rails Hosting
With so many hosting options out there, it can be tricky to evaluate providers and plans to fit your specific Rails hosting needs. Here are the key factors to consider:
- Rails VersionsÂ
Make sure the provider supports the version(s) of Ruby on Rails your apps require. This ensures compatibility and optimizations.
- Managed HostingÂ
Fully managed hosting takes care of infrastructure, updates, and performance tuning for you. This simplifies hosting significantly.
- ScalabilityÂ
Look for easy vertical and horizontal scaling capabilities to grow hosting resources as your traffic and demands increase.
- Performance & Caching
Select providers with fast server specs optimized for Rails. Caching features like Memcached further improve performance.
- Security
Robust security protections like firewalls, SSL encryption, VPNs, and DDoS mitigation should be included.
- Backups & Restore
Automated backups make disaster recovery simple. Look for tools to easily backup and restore your app data.
- 24/7 Expert Support
The best hosts provide around-the-clock support from Rails experts to help with any issues.
- Price
Compare pricing models like monthly subscriptions or usage-based billing to find the best value.
Top Ruby on Rails Hosting Providers Compared
Based on the criteria above, here are the best Rails hosting providers and how they compare across key factors. Make sure to hire Ruby on Rails developers who have proficiency in using these hosting provider services to host your Ruby app securely and seamlessly.
Heroku
Heroku, now part of Salesforce, is the most popular Ruby on Rails hosting platform. It pioneered the simplistic Git push deployments that developers love.
Key Features
- Supports the latest Ruby and Rails versions
- Easy Git-based deployment and app management
- Automatic scaling of dynos (containers) to meet demands
- Add-on marketplace for caching, monitoring, and more
- Developer toolkit with command line interface
- Detailed metrics on performance and utilization
Performance
- Global infrastructure offers low latency worldwide.
- HTTP request routing optimizes delivery
- Dynos provides isolated containers for apps
- Memory-based caching like Memcached
Scalability
- Apps can scale vertically by upgrading dyno types
- Auto-scaling increases dynos horizontally to manage spikes
- Background workers can process queued jobs
- Load balancing distributes requests across dynos
Support & SLA
- Documentation and Heroku Dev Center resources
- 24/7 ticket support with monitoring and response SLAs
- Architectural and performance reviews available
Heroku shines with its developer experience and managed platform. It eliminates infrastructure headaches with fast deployments, scaling, and add-ons. While pricing is higher for production, its robust platform and ecosystem make Heroku a top choice.
Engine Yard
Engine Yard provides top-tier managed Rails hosting on the cloud. With expert support and architecture guidance, it’s ideal for large, complex applications.
Key Features
- Fully managed AWS cloud hosting
- Isolated environments with clustered app servers
- Preconfigured load balancing and CDN
- Auto-scaling of resources to meet demand
- Customizable configurations and infrastructure
- Git and SSH deployments for your code
Performance
- High-performance infrastructure design
- SSD-backed storage up to 3,200 IOPS
- HTTP caching with Varnish improves speed
- Option for 1 Gbps network uplinks
- Optimizes configs based on your app
Scalability
- Auto-scaling of clusters vertically and horizontally
- Automated provisioning streamlines scaling
- Dedicated or shared MySQL read replicas
- Multi-region support for global apps
- Minimal downtime for scaling adjustments
Support & SLA
- 24/7 support with 15-minute response times
- Dedicated team of DevOps experts
- Monthly performance reviews
- 99.95% uptime SLA
With custom multi-server clusters and expert DevOps teams, Engine Yard enables robust hosting for enterprise Rails apps. While more expensive than shared hosting, it’s ideal for mission-critical workloads.
DigitalOcean
DigitalOcean simplifies hosting with a developer-first experience and a robust platform for running Ruby on Rails apps.
Key Features
- Preconfigured Rails Droplets (cloud servers)
- Deploy apps from GitHub, GitLab, or directly
- Built-in load balancing for running multiple Droplets
- Developer-friendly control panel and APIs
- SSD storage with fast IOPS performance
Performance
- Simple horizontal scaling improves performance
- Fast global network backbone
- Regular hardware upgrades to the latest specs
- Enable CDN caching for assets and media
- Scalability
- Vertical scaling by upgrading Droplet sizes
- Horizontal scaling by adding more Droplets
- Integrated load balancer scales traffic across Droplets
- Auto-scaling is upcoming to adjust capacity based on demand
Support & SLA
- Active community forums for self-help
- Technical support with quick response times
- 99.99% Uptime SLA
Pricing
- Flexible hourly and monthly Droplet pricing
- Starts at $15/month for 1GB RAM Droplet
- $40/month gets 4GB RAM, 2 CPUs, 80GB SSD
For developers who want hands-on control and scalability without complexity, DigitalOcean hits a sweet spot. Their Rails Droplets provide blazing performance at competitive prices.
Platform.sh
Platform.sh offers a unique managed hosting approach that isolates every environment for seamless development workflows.
Key Features
- Built-in Git deployments, branching, and rollbacks
- Each branch and clone gets own isolated environment
- Integrated MySQL and Redis databases
- HTTP caching turbo speed deployment
Performance
- Global CDN for assets and media
- Optimized server configurations
- HTTP/2 support accelerates sites
- Redis-based caching
Scalability
- Auto-scaling of containers horizontally
- Easy cloning of environments to scale
- Up to 200GB MySQL storage
- Read replicas for MySQL load balancing
Support & SLA
- Developer-focused documentation
- 24/7 ticket and email support
- 99.95% Uptime SLA
Platform.sh natively bakes in best practices for staging, testing, and scaling with unique workflows. Their isolation and cloning streamline dev ops. Pricing is friendly for lean teams.
AWS Elastic Beanstalk
Amazon Web Services offers a PaaS option tailored for Rails hosting via Elastic Beanstalk.
Key Features
- Quick deployment from the Git repository
- Managed EC2 instances, load balancing, autoscaling
- Developer tools extend capabilities
- Full access to other AWS services
- Blue/green deployments for zero downtime
Performance
- Auto-scaling improves performance
- CDN and ElastiCache optimize speed
- Leverage other AWS performance services
Scalability
- Seamlessly grow and shrink capacity
- Scale to massive throughput with AWS
- Utilize AWS auto-scaling features
Support & SLA
- Documentation and community Q&A
- Developer and business support plans
- EC2 uptime SLA applies
For dedicated development teams already using AWS, Elastic Beanstalk simplifies deploying and managing Rails apps. It removes the infrastructure burden while still providing access to other AWS services.
Google Cloud Run
Google Cloud Run provides a unique serverless hosting model for stateless Ruby web apps.
Key Features
- No server management is required
- Auto scales from zero to handle traffic
- Subsecond docker container deployments
- Integrated with other Google Cloud services
- Free tier available
Performance
- Fast global network and edge caching
- Scales rapidly based on demand
- Google SLA for uptime and speed
Scalability
- Instantly scales containers out and in
- No resource limits or cold starts
- Built on Google Cloud’s scalable infrastructure
Support & SLA
- Technical documentation available
- Google Cloud Platform support
- 99.95% monthly uptime SLA
For apps that can run statelessly, Cloud Run provides incredible scalability without provisioning servers. Pricing per request is cost-efficient for sporadic workloads.
Linode
Linode offers simplified Rails hosting with high-performance SSD servers and hourly billing.
Key Features
- Deploy from Git or directly to servers
- Linux servers tuned for Rails performance
- Built-in load balancing
- SSD storage up to 375GB per server
- Optional managed service for turnkey setup
Performance
- Global anycast network tuned for speed
- NVMe SSD storage up to 375GB
- Upgrade to higher performance plans
- Add-on caching from Redis or Memcached
Scalability
- Vertical scaling by upgrading the Linode plan
- Add Linodes and use a load balancer
- Automated horizontal scaling is an upcoming
Support & SLA
- 24/7 live chat and phone support
- Active community forums
- Professional services available
- 99.9% uptime SLA
For flexibility, performance, and transparent pricing, Linode hits the sweet spot. It’s a great option for hosting multiple smaller Rails apps.
AppFog (CenturyLink)
AppFog, now owned by CenturyLink, offers a Platform-as-a-Service tailored for deploying Rails and other web apps.
Key Features
- Quick deployments from Git
- Managed servers and infrastructure
- Relational MySQL databases
- Auto scaling to manage spikes
- Caching services like Redis
- Free trial available
- Performance
- Global points of presence
- CDN asset acceleration
- Server optimization for Rails
- Add caching services to improve speed
Scalability
- Auto-scaling of PaaS resources
- Configure auto-scaling rules
- Upgrade instances vertically
- Add database replicas
Support & SLA
- 24/7 phone and chat support
- Rails Buildpack guides
- 99.95% Uptime SLA
AppFog (CenturyLink) delivers easy Rails deployment with automatic infrastructure management. For startups and lean teams, it removes hosting burdens. The common PaaS limitations around flexibility and control should be evaluated.
Choosing the Best Ruby on Rails Hosting
When evaluating the many capable Rails hosting providers, consider your deployment needs, scalability requirements, pricing, and ease of management. Here are a few key recommendations based on app profiles:
- For Micro Services & APIs – Heroku, AWS Elastic Beanstalk
- For Medium Traffic Sites – DigitalOcean, Linode, Platform.sh
- For High Traffic Web Apps – Heroku Performance Dynos, Engine Yard
- For Enterprise Grade Apps – Engine Yard, AWS Elastic Beanstalk
- For Startups and new Apps – Heroku, AppFog, Google Cloud Run
- For Serverless Capabilities – Google Cloud Run, AWS Lambda
Take advantage of free trials and testing periods to evaluate providers hands-on with your apps. This ensures your architecture and workflows are compatible and that performance meets requirements.
Top Factors When Evaluating Ruby on Rails Hosting Providers:
- Managed Hosting Options – reduces ops overhead
- Performance & Caching Features – improves speed
- Easy Git Deployments – simplifies workflows
- Scalability Options – handles growth and spikes
- Security & Compliance – protect your data
- Support & SLA – help when you need it
- Pricing & Billing – aligns with budget needs
Final Words
By selecting the right hosting environment optimized for your Ruby on Rails project, you can scale, achieve maximum performance, and deliver outstanding user experiences.
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