Because the code is easy to read and the framework is self-documenting, Rails enhances overall team productivity. Startups choose to work with Rails because it helps them get their product to market faster since it cuts down on development time. https://www.mygeorgiasouthern.net/

Honestly I don’t agree. In my experience Rails easily becomes a rat’s nest of magical code that is nearly impossible to read. A bajillion imports leads to code being pulled in from who knows where.

Last time I used Rails was years ago, but I found Rails had a huge mental load when developing. So much magic and inference, you had to carry the whole Rails mental model around with you to read some simple code. I think that's a danger in any framework, but it felt especially acute to me in Rails.

That's your experience, many think it was a fresh air using Rails than using Java for webdev.

This is really a matter (or problem) of how people use Rails. I am very much not a fan of magic, and I prefer explicit over implicit.

You cannot use the same approaches for serious, big Rails projects as you might for quick and dirty proof of concepts. And by that I mean OO, mixins, fat models, overemphasis of ORM, etc. will hurt down the road. But most of these same points are true for Django too.

The better way to use Rails is for the core features, and then keep the business logic in modules in "services" (just domain specific organized modules which have little or no dependency on Rails, and are therefore super easy to write complete tests for).

An organically grown Rails project that started as an MVP will predictably turn into a ball of sadness if not refactored significantly at various stages in the life of the project.

I've used Ruby since 2005, and I've disliked Rails pretty much from day one, and really wish the two were not so intertwined. At the same time I've used Ruby professionally almost as long while only rarely needing to touch Rails so I disagree it loses its usefulness though Rails fading from popularity certainly has an effect.

I did not mean that Ruby isn't useful without Rails.

But I do see the fading popularity of Rails (and therefore) Ruby to start affecting its usefulness. Less libraries, fewer bindings, abandoned libs and fewer hosting options.