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Best Ruby on Rails IDEs and Text Editors for Web App Development

Ruby on rails ide is a popular framework for web application development. Ruby is one of the various programming languages, but most software companies started to use it after Ruby on rails ide came into the market. You can find many IDEs in the market, but it makes a confusing situation because you can’t decide which is the best for your project.

In this situation, many businesses start to look for the best app development company because it helps them not only find the right IDE but also develop a complete web app. Since learning and writing code is easier in Ruby than in other languages, many aspiring developers make their careers in it.

Today, in this blog, I will present crucial information about Ruby on rails, Text editor, development environment, and much more so stay glued till the end.

What Is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE)?

To understand the types of Ruby on rails ide, you must know about what is IDE. It is an acronym for an Integrated development environment. You can also call it software that helps developers to improve code and productivity. It offers tight-knit components with parallel user interfaces. Microsoft visual studio code is also a popular IDE among software development companies.

IDE makes the work of developers easy because of in-built plugins, tools, and features. Developers do not have to write lengthy codes for small and repetitive tasks if they use IDEs. There are IDEs available for numerous programming languages as well. You can find many other best IDE for web development projects in the market.

Ruby on rails ide is divided into three parts.

1. Source code editor: As the name implies. It is an editor to write and edit code.
2. Build automation: It compiles the code
3. Debugger interface: Debugger tests and debugs the code to check against any errors

With the advancement in technologies and tools, many modern IDEs are built with code completion. User interfaces in the IDEs help ruby developers in rails web development.

What Is the Ruby on Rails (ROR) Concept?

ROR is popularly known as Rails. It is an open-source framework. It is also called a model-view-controller-based framework. Web frameworks always require a specific programming language. Similarly, Rails is a framework written in Ruby general-purpose programming language. Most developers choose this framework because of its time-saving qualities.

Know about the basic concepts of Ruby on rails below

1. DRY: This concept help saves developers to write the same code repeatedly
2. Convention Over Configuration: It is a code convention that provides the best way of writing code
3. CRUD: CRUD stands for Create, Read, Update, and Delete. These are actions on database-driven web apps
4. REST: Representational state transfer performed on URLs

Also Read: What are the best databases for web applications?

What Is the Difference Between IDE and Code Editor?

A code editor is also called a text editor. Often, you are confused between a text editor and an IDE. A text editor is simply a writing tool that only has features and functions which help to improve writing and editing.

Here are the basic functions of a text editor

1. Copy
2. Cut
3. Paste
4. Undo
5. Redo

On the other hand, IDE comes with a lot of many things. It makes the lives of developers easy by providing the below features.

1. Creating executables
2. Auto-completion
3. Refactoring
4. Version management
5. Debugging

And many other features.

Best Ruby on Rails IDEs in 2025

If you are planning for web apps and want to use the Ruby programming language, knowing about Ruby on rails IDEs is crucial. Our team researched and found some most important IDEs so that you can find a fully featured IDE for your project. You will know about the core features to use for the development of web applications.

So, be ready to choose a full-featured IDE from the list below.

1. Visual Studio Code for Ruby
2. RubyMine IDE
3. Aptana Studio
4. Atom Editor
5. NetBeans
6. Sublime Text
7. Cloud9
8. EMACS

Logo	Website Link	GitHub Link
	Visual Studio	Visual Studio
	RubyMine IDE	RubyMine IDE
	Aptana Studio	Aptana Studio
	Atom Editor	Atom Editor
	NetBeans	NetBeans
	Sublime Text	Sublime Text
	Cloud9	Cloud9
	EMACS	EMACS

1. 1. Visual Studio Code for Ruby

   Visual studio code for Ruby is available for free. The latest version of VScode is 1.102. It was released in June 2025. Many developers choose this IDE because of its intuitive features and wide range of functions. Fast information, member list, and information on parameters using its IntelliSense tool are some of the crucial features of VScose for Ruby.

   The version control systems are managed through Git integration. Check out the features of visual studio code for Ruby in the space below.

   Features:

   • It has the capacity to debug from the editor via breakpoints
   • Improved syntax highlighting
   • Snippets to Ruby and ERB files
   • Auto completion is possible by IntelliSense
   • Interactive console and call stacks
2. 

Source

Pros:

1. Intellisense
2. Integrating the terminal
3. Strong multilingual free Ruby IDE
4. Integration of debugger and many other IDEs

Cons:

1. More launch time is required
2. All IDEs functionalities are missing
3. Plugins are rarely updated

1. 2. RubyMine IDE

   You can call it a fully-featured IDE because of its support of many programming languages like JavaScript, Ruby, CSS, CoffeeScript, SAAS, HAML, C++, and others. Easy and seamless code of RubyMine help in Ruby development. This Ruby on rails IDE has the ability to finish code automatically. Moreover, the built-in console is integrated with the RubyMine development environment.

   It is the best IDE for ruby to test web services or APIs. Scroll down to know its features, pros, and cons.

   Features:

   • It provides a graphical user interface debugger for different programming languages like CoffeeScript, JavaScript, and Ruby.
   • It can set breakpoints to debug code
   • Integration of Git
   • Its version control system is enriched with code completion, error highlighting, and unified integration formatting suggestions

    

    

2. 

Source

Pros:

1. Refactoring assistance
2. Automated intelligent completion
3. It can integrate with terminal, testing, rake, framework, and bundler

Cons:

1. Private source
2. Sometimes UI designs seem heavy

1. 3. Aptana Studio

   Aptana is one of the most popular Ruby on rails IDE for rails web development. External plugin RadRails has many high-tech features that make Aptana studio the best IDE. Likewise, this type of feature simplifies the development of database-driven web apps.

   The tool supports rails development customization and enhances the productivity of developers. It’s all because of upgrading new features in Ruby programming IDE Aptana studio. Moreover, it supports manifold programming languages like PHP, Rails, CSS, AJAX, HTML, JavaScript, and others.

   Features:

   • It has filter nodes to display collections that match the patterns
   • Bugs forecasting is useful
   • It has a tree structure code representation
   • Provides error and syntax highlighting
   • Easy inspection of breakpoints, control execution, and variables
2. 

Source

Pros:

1. Git integration support
2. Integrated debugger
3. Easy software customization
4. Deployment wizard

Cons:

1. There is no HTML design window

1. 4. Atom Editor

   Atom editor is an open-source IDE from GitHub. This Ruby IDE is used by many developers because of its simple code development features. Developers can conduct rails web programming with extremely customizable components. There are many benefits of custom app development, which is why most businesses want customized applications.

   GitHub supports this IDE to offer seamless services. Moreover, this Ruby IDE also supports different programming languages. Here are some of its important features.

   Features:

   • Features like manifold panes, auto-completion, find and replace are useful
   • Incorporation with Git and GitHub for version control
   • Developers can function in an identical document in real-time
2. 

Source

Pros:

1. It is modular and highly customizable
2. Free and open-source IDE
3. This Ruby IDE has strong community support

Cons:

1. The desktop and web-based technologies
2. Some components are difficult to use
3. Documentation is not up to date

1. 5. NetBeans

   NetBeans is the product of Apache. Although it was developed in Java, you can install it on any operating system such as MAC os X, Windows, and Linux. Developers only have to write once and they can run the code anywhere with NetBeans.

   This rails framework is suitable for many languages like HTML5, C++, C, and Java. And provides the same rapid web development solutions. Constantly increasing Java editor helps it be enriched with the latest technologies for innovative results. It is one of the best-integrated development environments because of the below features.

   Features:

   • It has good compatibility with the Maven tool
   • Intelligent summaries help you to analyze Rails applications
   • It offers effortless solutions with Windows, Mac OS, Linux, and Solaris
   • Developers can write code quickly and accurately with the help of an autocompletion function
   • Collapse and expand features save you from writing in a gigantic way. Method declarations, import statements, and comments help to write shortcodes.
   • Smart suggestions like variable definitions, missing fields, braces, and issues with import help to fix mistakes.
2. 

Source

Pros:

1. NetBeans web development IDE is easy to install
2. These code editors have lightweight runtime

Cons:

1. Not suitable for legacy application development

1. 6. Sublime Text

   Sublime is the most popular Ruby on rails IDE because of its effective user interface, high performance and ability to add plugins, and quick Rails development. Sublime text is a customizable and high-performing powerful ruby development environment. Have a look at crucial features of Sublime Text for Rails development.

   Features:

   • Sublime text is the most popular because of high performance and customization
   • Goto definition and Goto anything capabilities make searches easy
   • You can change projects without saving them in Sublime text
   • Divide editing helps in text selections and changes
2. 

Source

Pros:

1. It offers a robust ecosystem of APIs and packages
2. Allows unique Ruby development
3. You can switch projects easily

Cons:

1. Clipboard interaction is in vintage style
2. Invalid code detector for code like CSS

1. 7. Cloud9

   Cloud9 Ruby on rails IDE supports many computing languages for rails development. Cloud9 is the best ruby IDE because it is controlled by Amazon. It has many installed plugins and development tools for web programming. As the name implies, it is a cloud-based program so applications are shared.

   You can access it from anywhere at any time but you require additional software to take its services. Cloud9 has access to the AWS terminal that makes commands simple for the web development process. It is a complete package of editor, terminal, and debugger.

   Features:

   • Browser-based editor simplifies some processes like editing, running, writing, and debugging a project.
   • Cloud9 allows browser-based Ruby on rails development
   • Many themes are provided by Ruby on rails IDE
   • Integrated panel debugger helps code stepping, variable step check, and breakpoints
   • SAM a template can use Cloud9. It is to simplify resources for server-less app
   • You can develop you code, push code updates to Git, and display server command output

Pros:

1. This enables an easy development environment
2. Effective UI features for Ruby programming
3. Parallel development is possible

Cons:

1. Require continuous internet

1. 8. EMACS

   It is a Ruby editor cum ide. Emacs is a comprehensive editor for Ruby scripting and Rails web programming. It is a free ruby IDE for rails web framework development as well. Developers can tweak it for personalized software development. Calendar, debugger interface, IRC client, newsfeed, and Mail.

   EMACS text editor support Unicode for all human languages. It is the best ruby on rails tool for project management as well. Some features of Ruby on rails and specific plugins enable Ruby on Rails programming.

   Features:

   • Syntax coloring is an effective edit mode
   • You can use features other than Ruby on rails
   • Debugger interface and tutorials for project managers
   • EMACS lips and GUI to change the appearance entirely

Pros:

1. Enables fast and high-performing development
2. It contains a large number of packages
3. It supports multiple files in a frame

Cons:

1. High learning curve
2. Documentation is not managed

These are the 8 Ruby scripting language IDEs. You can use any of them or more than one as per your app and web idea. Besides it, if you are worried about how to patent a mobile app idea, check out this blog.

Bottom Lines

Ruby IDE or Ruby on rails tools make the lives of developers easy with their in-built feature, Ruby plugin, and high-performing function. You can choose the best Ruby IDE from the list provided in the blog. Select a full-featured IDE for your next project. If you want to hire the top software development company for your dream project, Technource can help you because it is the top reliable firm in the USA.