# Whether Merb 1.0 offers an alternative to Ruby on Rails **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [October 20, 2008, 12:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/whether-merb-1-0-offers-an-alternative-to-ruby-on-rails/151323 "2008-10-20T12:00:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lostwarrior](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@lostwarrior](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/lostwarrior)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 12:00pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/whether-merb-1-0-offers-an-alternative-to-ruby-on-rails/151323/1 "2008-10-20T12:00:04Z")
[http://www.sdtimes.com/MERB\_1\_0\_OFFERS\_AN\_ALTERNATIVE\_TO\_RUBY\_ON\_RAILS/About\_RUBY\_and\_SOFTWAREDEVELOPMENT\_and\_MERB\_and\_RAILS/32972](http://www.sdtimes.com/MERB_1_0_OFFERS_AN_ALTERNATIVE_TO_RUBY_ON_RAILS/About_RUBY_and_SOFTWAREDEVELOPMENT_and_MERB_and_RAILS/32972) hi i got this link from my friend in new-jersey.whether merb is an alternative for rails ---
**Author:** ![lostwarrior](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@lostwarrior](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/lostwarrior)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 1:16pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/whether-merb-1-0-offers-an-alternative-to-ruby-on-rails/151323/2 "2008-10-20T13:16:26Z")
People just don’t seem to get it: Merb = Mongrel + erb Rails = lot’s of stuff Obviously Merb is easier to setup and will have better performance. Is that enough for you? Then go for it. If not, Rails offers much more stuff to work with, and therefore there is a slight cost to it. Merb is not an alternative to Rails, it serves a different purpose: do benchmarks against Rails and masturbate on the results as if it was the only thing that counted on the planet. Well that’s basically the only material I have found about Merb. I’d like to see some Merb apps that truely compete against their Rails equivalent. Who has written a forum or blog in Merb? Best regards, ---
**Author:** ![lostwarrior](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@lostwarrior](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/lostwarrior)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 8:20am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/whether-merb-1-0-offers-an-alternative-to-ruby-on-rails/151323/3 "2008-10-22T08:20:50Z")
Hi– On Oct 20, 2008, at 3:00 AM, Lost W. wrote: > [http://www.sdtimes.com/MERB\_1\_0\_OFFERS\_AN\_ALTERNATIVE\_TO\_RUBY\_ON\_RAILS/About\_RUBY\_and\_SOFTWAREDEVELOPMENT\_and\_MERB\_and\_RAILS/32972](http://www.sdtimes.com/MERB_1_0_OFFERS_AN_ALTERNATIVE_TO_RUBY_ON_RAILS/About_RUBY_and_SOFTWAREDEVELOPMENT_and_MERB_and_RAILS/32972) > > hi i got this link from my friend in new-jersey.whether merb is an > alternative for rails This is a good article but doesn’t tell the whole story. If you are an Open Source Ruby Ninja, then Merb will be a slam dunk for you. If you rely on Google to answer your questions about “how do I create a form tag in this dern thing”, then you might find the community’s posts are not as helpful as the wealth of info you can get on Rails. If you are in the category of developer who worries about scaling and thread-blocking mutexes and all the stuff Merb and DataMapper worked on in response to the “Rails is slow” whining, then you’ll understand and appreciate Merb. If you’re looking to get something built quickly, then you might be better off sticking with Rails – especially if you like grabbing prebuilt functionality in the form of plugins. If you’re not sure, then by all means, find a tutorial that is somewhere close to the current RC of Merb, install it, and watch in amazement as yet another Ruby Web framework comes to life before your very eyes. You might start here: [http://merb.4ninjas.org/](http://merb.4ninjas.org/) (close, but not quite current) Good luck! ---
**Author:** ![lostwarrior](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@lostwarrior](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/lostwarrior)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2008, 9:41am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/whether-merb-1-0-offers-an-alternative-to-ruby-on-rails/151323/4 "2008-10-22T09:41:05Z")
On Oct 22, 5:20 pm, “s.ross” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Open Source Ruby Ninja, then Merb will be a slam dunk for you. If you > > If you’re not sure, then by all means, find a tutorial that is > somewhere close to the current RC of Merb, install it, and watch in > amazement as yet another Ruby Web framework comes to life before your > very eyes. You might start here: > > [http://merb.4ninjas.org/](http://merb.4ninjas.org/)(close, but not quite current) > > Good luck! [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/TcMklv40YMY/hqdefault.jpg "Merb, Rubinius and the Engine Yard Stack") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcMklv40YMY) is a talk on merb and its philosophy with respect to rails, followed by talk on rubinius. Damn cool. – Daniel B.