npm is vastly better than the gem package manager imo, making using modules infinitely easier. Furthermore, node modules (the good ones) do one thing and do it right. What I like about node is they give you the core without which you can't live, and you add the layers you want. With RoR you get a huge onion and need to peel a bunch of layers and add others if you want to do things right. I didn't say node was for beginners though. But say for a programmer with a good theoretical background but no web development experience, node is much more appealing and usable.