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The 15 Most Popular Sites Built Using Ruby on Rails

May 2021

Here at Bit Zesty, we love Ruby on Rails. With over 1.5 million websites currently using this full-stack, open-source framework, it seems like we’re not the only ones. 

Many of the internet’s most prominent names use Ruby on Rails, and chances are you’ll be using websites built on it every day. 

Let’s take a look at some of the most popular:

  1. Airbnb
    The world’s most popular home-sharing and holiday rental site have used Ruby on Rails since its inception in 2008. They currently run it alongside the popular Javascript libraries React and Lodash.
  1. GOV.UK
    The UK Government’s widely lauded, award-winning, open-source website is written mainly in Ruby – using a mixture of the Rails and Sinatra frameworks. GOV.UK has become something of a standard for Government websites worldwide and is only more proof that Ruby can deal with large numbers of significant transactions.
  1. Shopify
    Shopify is an e-commerce platform built using Ruby on Rails. With nearly 1.4 million live websites using it to sell online, Shopify is the e-commerce platform of choice for businesses of all sizes – from Economist, Penguin Books, Red Bull, Victoria Beckham, to mention a few, to your local cookie shop.
  1. Kickstarter
    This global crowdfunding platform helps to get projects off the ground. Their simple and intuitive UI allows creators to offer tangible rewards or experiences in exchange for pledges. Kick-starter is classed as a public-benefit corporation and uses RoR as a core part of the application.

  2. SoundCloud
    An open platform that directly connects creators with their fans. Music and audio creators use SoundCloud to both share and monetise their content. Soundcloud runs in several different languages, but it has always had at least some Ruby at the core of its service.

  3. Zendesk
    A Customer service and support platform used by some of the biggest brands, including Tesco, Uber, Siemens and Mailchimp. The software is designed to improve customer relationships through its various support and sales products.

  4. Bloomberg
    Bloomberg is one of the most famous examples of Ruby on Rails and is used alongside other frameworks such as ASP.NET, PHP and Express. Their technological innovations continue to make Bloomberg the professional’s choice for data, analytics, news and more. Bloomberg has offices in 167 locations and nearly 20,000 employees.

  5. Mumsnet
    Mumsnet was formed in 2000 as a way of parents pooling information and advice. It’s now grown into a vast platform of discussion forums and blog posts containing advice and support on everything from conception to childbirth, from babies to teenagers.
  1. Groupon
    A global e-commerce marketplace. Launched in Chicago in 2008, Groupon now serves 15 different countries and has revenues of over $2 billion. Although Groupon is moving towards Node.JS, RoR still makes up a part of their tech stack.

  2. Twitch
    Twitch is an American live video streaming service. Most of the streams focus on video gaming but have recently expanded into esports, music and other creative content. Twitch is a subsidiary of Amazon.

  3. Slideshare
    A slide hosting platform that allows users to upload and share presentations. Slideshare was acquired by LinkedIn in 2012 for $119 million but is now part of Microsoft after they subsequently purchased LinkedIn.

  4. Ask.fm
    Ask.fm is another example of a popular Ruby-based platform with around 215 million users. The premise is straightforward: ask a question and get an answer on any topic. The site was founded in 2010 in Riga, Latvia.
  1. Codecademy
    The popular freemium learning platform has taught over 50 million people how to code. Alongside Ruby on Rails, Codecedemy uses the popular React.JS library.
  1. Github
    The largest and most advanced development platform in the world needs little introduction. It is home to over 56 million software developers and over 100 million repositories.

  2. Dribble
    One of the leading destinations to find and showcase creative work. Dribble serves as a design portfolio platform, jobs and recruiting site. The entire platform is built on RoR and JQuery. The company is fully remote with no headquarters.

These are just 15 examples out of 1.5 million. The variety of these examples goes some way to show how powerful this technology can be and why it’s our framework of choice here at Bit Zesty. 

If you want to learn how you can use Ruby on Rails to build your next web application or how we can support your existing Ruby app, please feel free to get in touch with us.


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