{"slug": "sinatra", "name": "Sinatra", "category": "dev-libs", "category_name": "Libraries and frameworks", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 8, "warners": 1, "score": 2.082, "rising": -0.98, "first": "2025-11-03", "latest": "2026-07-10", "why": "still reach for Sinatra for super simple server needs", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 7, "compare": 0, "warn": 1}, "spark": [0, 2, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "still reach for Sinatra for super simple server needs", "kind": "", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://sinatrarb.com/", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Sinatra"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 763825907, "item_id": 47739119, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47739119", "by": "freedomben", "date": "2026-04-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Sinatra especially is a joy", "excerpt": "I was in the same boat! I love Ruby so the language isn't an issue, but I generally do not like Jekyll. I especially find the template system very limiting. That is especially disappointing since ERB is pretty great. I wish that had been a first class feature. I use it to generate my resume, and I went almost 10 years without updating Jekyll. Since Claude has come on the scene, I used it to upgrade everything to the ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The End of Eleventy"}, {"id": 757639025, "item_id": 47352439, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47352439", "by": "freedomben", "date": "2026-03-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "still reach for Sinatra for super simple server needs", "excerpt": "I am/was a huge Ruby fanboy, and I used Rails a lot and loved it (though had some criticisms around too much \"magic\"). I made the jump to Elixir/Phoenix around 8 years ago, and have loved it. Phoenix to me basically \"fixed\" all the things I didn't like about Rails (basically opacity and hard-to-find-where-it's-happening stuff due to someone metaprogramming aggressively). I will admit that I've been a functional progr", "context": "", "use_case": "Simple web servers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Returning to Rails in 2026"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 757619843, "item_id": 47351240, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47351240", "by": "shevy-java", "date": "2026-03-12", "stance": "warn", "quote": "has a bad documentation for the most part", "excerpt": "> Rails seems to have pretty much fallen out of favour, coming in at #20 underneath the bulk of top-10 JavaScript and ASP.NET frameworks It's not just Rails. Ruby is dying. And has been for quite some years now. The strangest things are people writing blog entries claiming the opposite. Like \"ruby ages like fine wine\". No, that is incorrect - it is dying. I have been using Ruby since about 2004 or 2005. I still use i", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Returning to Rails in 2026"}]}], "who": [{"by": "ritahuang", "context": "independent software engineer, 4+ years full-stack", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47228072", "date": "2026-03-02"}, {"by": "lucasluitjes", "context": "dev/devops/security consultant for startups, 15+ years", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46466644", "date": "2026-01-02"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["microservices", "micro-service web apps", "simple web servers", "web framework", "ruby web apps"], "compared": [{"slug": "ruby-on-rails", "name": "Ruby on Rails", "co": 11, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "postgresql", "name": "PostgreSQL", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "stimulus", "name": "Stimulus", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "heroku", "name": "Heroku", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "render", "name": "Render", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "bootstrap", "name": "Bootstrap", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47347064", "title": "Returning to Rails in 2026", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46466073", "title": "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (January 2026)", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46110836", "title": "Response to \"Ruby Is Not a Serious Programming Language\"", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48850372", "title": "How to Start a Ruby Meetup", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48199314", "title": "PHP's Oddities", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48245262", "title": "Rubish: A Unix shell written in pure Ruby", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"neutral": 1}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-01": {"neutral": 2}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {"neutral": 1, "warn": 1, "recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-05": {"neutral": 2}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 781747217, "item_id": 48859201, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48859201", "by": "throwatdem12311", "date": "2026-07-10", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Sinatra micro services were a thing for a while.", "excerpt": "We work with Rails but there is more to programming (and Ruby) than work. Sinatra micro services were a thing for a while. Hanami is decent. But the reason we use Rails is pretty simple\u2026it\u2019s great, it\u2019s battle tested and has a massive ecosystem. I don\u2019t even care that DHH is a Nazi because you know what I can use it for non-Nazi stuff and there\u2019s nothing he can do about it. I get his labour for free. He\u2019s like my lit", "context": "", "use_case": "microservices", "switched_from": "", "story": "How to Start a Ruby Meetup"}, {"id": 771989988, "item_id": 48249374, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48249374", "by": "xp84", "date": "2026-05-23", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "for a simple Sinatra (Ruby) or node.js version", "excerpt": "I used to really love the dead-simple ease PHP brought to server-side dynamic web stuff too. But when shared cpanel type hosting was orders of magnitude cheaper than anything else, that was a way bigger deal. Today you can deploy a node.js app (all the same \u201cjust a script\u201d advantages of PHP) to a half dozen places for free, and for the next step up, a smallish instance at Hetzner, DigitalOcean or whatever, where you ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "PHP's Oddities"}, {"id": 771955537, "item_id": 48247221, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48247221", "by": "freedomben", "date": "2026-05-23", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "micro-services in Sinatra", "excerpt": "Indeed, I love Ruby, I find rails to be adequate and powerful, but it largely feels like a different language to me. Rails is so heavy on the \"magic\" while regular Ruby typically isn't. I use ruby a ton for scripts and small applications (especially micro-services in Sinatra) and it's so readable, expressive, and understandable, often even to people who don't know ruby all that well!", "context": "", "use_case": "Micro-service web apps", "switched_from": "", "story": "Rubish: A Unix shell written in pure Ruby"}, {"id": 763825907, "item_id": 47739119, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47739119", "by": "freedomben", "date": "2026-04-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Sinatra especially is a joy", "excerpt": "I was in the same boat! I love Ruby so the language isn't an issue, but I generally do not like Jekyll. I especially find the template system very limiting. That is especially disappointing since ERB is pretty great. I wish that had been a first class feature. I use it to generate my resume, and I went almost 10 years without updating Jekyll. Since Claude has come on the scene, I used it to upgrade everything to the ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The End of Eleventy"}, {"id": 757639025, "item_id": 47352439, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47352439", "by": "freedomben", "date": "2026-03-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "still reach for Sinatra for super simple server needs", "excerpt": "I am/was a huge Ruby fanboy, and I used Rails a lot and loved it (though had some criticisms around too much \"magic\"). I made the jump to Elixir/Phoenix around 8 years ago, and have loved it. Phoenix to me basically \"fixed\" all the things I didn't like about Rails (basically opacity and hard-to-find-where-it's-happening stuff due to someone metaprogramming aggressively). I will admit that I've been a functional progr", "context": "", "use_case": "Simple web servers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Returning to Rails in 2026"}, {"id": 757619843, "item_id": 47351240, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47351240", "by": "shevy-java", "date": "2026-03-12", "stance": "warn", "quote": "has a bad documentation for the most part", "excerpt": "> Rails seems to have pretty much fallen out of favour, coming in at #20 underneath the bulk of top-10 JavaScript and ASP.NET frameworks It's not just Rails. Ruby is dying. And has been for quite some years now. The strangest things are people writing blog entries claiming the opposite. Like \"ruby ages like fine wine\". No, that is incorrect - it is dying. I have been using Ruby since about 2004 or 2005. I still use i", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Returning to Rails in 2026"}, {"id": 755649154, "item_id": 47228072, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47228072", "by": "ritahuang", "date": "2026-03-02", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Sinatra", "excerpt": "Location: Taiwan (UTC+8) Remote: Remote/ Worldwide /can work overlap within CET or work overlap at least 4 hours within EST Willing to relocate: No Technologies: - Languages & Frameworks - Ruby, TypeScript, JavaScript, PostgreSQL, HTML/CSS, Ruby On Rails, Sinatra, Chartkick, StimulusJS, jQuery, Handlebars, Bootstrap, Tailwind CSS - Other: Heroku, Render, Git, VS Code, User Authentication & Authorization R\u00e9sum\u00e9/CV: ht", "context": "independent software engineer, 4+ years full-stack", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (March 2026)"}, {"id": 743559762, "item_id": 46472485, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46472485", "by": "ritahuang", "date": "2026-01-02", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Sinatra, Chartkick, StimulusJS, jQuery, Handlebars", "excerpt": "Location: Taiwan/Asia (UTC+8) Remote: Remote/ Worldwide /can work overlap at least 4 hours within EST or work within CET Willing to relocate: No Technologies: - Languages & Frameworks - Ruby, TypeScript, JavaScript, PostgreSQL, HTML/CSS, Ruby On Rails, Sinatra, Chartkick, StimulusJS, jQuery, Handlebars, Bootstrap, Tailwind CSS - Other: Heroku, Render, Git, VS Code, User Authentication & Authorization R\u00e9sum\u00e9/CV: https", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (January 2026)"}, {"id": 743466305, "item_id": 46466644, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46466644", "by": "lucasluitjes", "date": "2026-01-02", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "especially Ruby (including Ruby on Rails, Sinatra, and standalone applications), PostgreSQL, Ansible, Linux.", "excerpt": "Location: The Netherlands. I'm flexible with working hours, I usually work with clients from either Western Europe or the USA. Remote: Yes Willing to relocate: No, but willing to travel/visit Technologies: especially Ruby (including Ruby on Rails, Sinatra, and standalone applications), PostgreSQL, Ansible, Linux. Lots of others at the end of my comment. R\u00e9sum\u00e9/CV: https://www.luitjes.it Email: lucas@luitjes.it I do d", "context": "dev/devops/security consultant for startups, 15+ years", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (January 2026)"}, {"id": 737839169, "item_id": 46114948, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46114948", "by": "kyledrake", "date": "2025-12-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "", "excerpt": "This is exactly what I've done. I don't enjoy Rails very much but I love working with Ruby and Sinatra. The community has done a great job to keep Rails separated from Ruby when they release tools, so that they don't depend on or require Rails. A lot of the aversion towards ruby I've gotten from people that have worked with it before mainly stems from complaints I share with the philosophy of Rails (making big change", "context": "", "use_case": "Web framework", "switched_from": "", "story": "Response to \"Ruby Is Not a Serious Programming Language\""}, {"id": 737792385, "item_id": 46112024, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46112024", "by": "Towaway69", "date": "2025-12-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "", "excerpt": "I had a similar experience. I love Ruby but too many companies assume I said Rails. I would also never recommend Rails for anything. Instead I\u2019d use Sinatra and Ruby any day.", "context": "", "use_case": "Ruby web apps", "switched_from": "", "story": "Response to \"Ruby Is Not a Serious Programming Language\""}, {"id": 732913477, "item_id": 45807092, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45807092", "by": "ritahuang", "date": "2025-11-03", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Sinatra", "excerpt": "Location: Taiwan/Asia (GMT+8) Remote: Yes, and can also work overlap at least 4 hours within EST or work within CET Willing to relocate: No Technologies: - Languages & Frameworks - Ruby, TypeScript, JavaScript, PostgreSQL, HTML/CSS, Ruby On Rails, Sinatra, Chartkick, StimulusJS, jQuery, Handlebars - Other: Heroku, Render, Git, VS Code, User Authentication & Authorization R\u00e9sum\u00e9/CV: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sJ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (November 2025)"}]}