We write deep technical blogs on Ruby on Rails, performance, scaling, monitoring and engineering in general. A good example is our <a class='bb-web-inline-link' href='/blog/scaling-rails-series'>Scaling Rails series</a>, which walks through practical ways to scale real-world Rails applications.

From our blogs

We solve real business needs. Some clients engage us to build a functional prototype in just a few weeks. With others, we become their entire development team for years after the initial engagement. Some applications need to HIPAA compliant, while others scale to massive size with complex payment processing.

Prototypes built in a few weeks, and multi-year engagements where we are the client’s entire development team. Some projects need HIPAA compliance; others run large-scale, complex payment processing.

We work with diverse clients from diverse fields

Over the years, we worked with Ruby on Rails and our enthusiasm for the framework grew. We have made tons of open-source contributions to Ruby on Rails code. BigBinary team members are constantly sending pull requests, reviewing other contributors' pull requests, and giving back to the Rails community.

BigBinary folks have contributed to Ruby on Rails.

14+ years of Ruby on Rails experience

We have the right combination of skills and experience to deliver high-quality software that actually works, with proven results. Six services, one framework, 15 years.

Ruby on Rails consulting services.

Expert Ruby on Rails development for building scalable, secure web applications. Our team creates fast, reliable solutions for your business.

We don’t just consult. We build.

BigBinary has 14+ years of experience working with Ruby on Rails. We were early adopters of Ruby on Rails after realising its exceptional productivity compared to other technologies. We worked with Ruby on Rails and started contributing towards it, leading to our in-depth understanding of the framework's intricacies. Through these contributions, we not only enhanced our skills but also shared our knowledge by writing blogs.

14+ years of web development using Ruby on Rails

Ruby on Rails Consulting Services

Most of our projects in the last 14 years fall in this category. We begin with the project's objectives. What problem are we solving, for whom, and what does “success” look like in plain terms?

The next step is to understand the user flows and wireframes. The wireframes do not need to be fancy or very polished. It should convey what we are building so that all the team members are on the same page. We have worked with hand-drawn wireframes on paper to very polished wireframes in Figma.

After the wireframes are done, we jump into development with a focus on short feedback loops. We break the work into small, reviewable pieces, and keep progress easy to follow. For lightweight projects, GitHub issues are often enough.

For teams that already have an established workflow, we’re comfortable fitting into whatever you use. We have worked with Trello, Asana, Linear, JIRA and more.

On the project's first day, we set up a staging environment. We continuously deploy the application to this staging application. It means stakeholders can see a real working application rather than guessing what has been done and what hasn't.

We also set expectations early on how decisions get made. Which parts are “must-have” vs “nice-to-have”? Where do we want to be opinionated, and where should we stay flexible? A little alignment up front prevents weeks of rework later.

As features land, we ensure that we have unit tests, consistent code review, and a steady focus on readability. The goal isn’t clever code; it’s code that developers can understand six months from now without needing an archeologist.

Performance and reliability aren’t postponed until “later.” We monitor the most common hotspots as the app grows: slow queries, N+1 issues, background jobs, caching, and error rates. Minor fixes applied continuously beat a painful “performance project” right before launch.

Finally, we treat delivery as part of the product. Clear release notes, predictable deployments, and a steady cadence of improvements mean you’re not just shipping features but you’re building a good habit. By the time you’re ready for production, the process should already feel routine.


Expert Ruby on Rails, applied end to end. Most of our projects in the last {years} years fall into this category — it is the work we know best.

Ruby on Rails application development.

Ruby on Rails application development

We begin with the project's objectives. What problem are we solving, for whom, and what does “success” look like in plain terms?

The objectives

The wireframes do not need to be fancy or very polished. It should convey what we are building so that all the team members are on the same page. We have worked with hand-drawn wireframes on paper to very polished wireframes in Figma.

User flows and wireframes

On the project's first day, we set up a staging environment. We continuously deploy the application to this staging application. It means stakeholders can see a real working application rather than guessing what has been done and what hasn't.

A staging environment on day one

We also set expectations early on how decisions get made. Which parts are “must-have” vs “nice-to-have”? Where do we want to be opinionated, and where should we stay flexible? A little alignment up front prevents weeks of rework later.

Alignment on how decisions get made

We jump into development with a focus on short feedback loops. We break the work into small, reviewable pieces, and keep progress easy to follow.

Short feedback loops

As features land, we ensure that we have unit tests, consistent code review, and a steady focus on readability.

Tests, review, readability

How a project runs

The goal isn’t clever code; it’s code that developers can understand six months from now without needing an archeologist.

We design and build Ruby on Rails applications from the ground up. From architecture and database design to development, testing, and deployment, our team works with you to turn business requirements into reliable, maintainable software built for long-term growth.

Ruby on Rails Application Development

Ruby on Rails moves fast. We understand that some projects are not able to
upgrade to the latest Ruby on Rails version immediately. And as time passes,
these projects fall further and further behind in the Rails version, and
catching up with the latest Ruby on Rails version becomes very daunting.

This is where BigBinary’s expertise can help. Over the last 14 years, we have
upgraded many Rails applications and have made those projects up to date with
the latest version of Ruby on Rails. The cost of not having the latest Ruby on Rails
version is hidden. You pay this cost very slowly in terms of lost productivity.

Every new version of Ruby on Rails brings more good stuff. The new gems make
themselves compatible with the latest version of Ruby on Rails. If you are using
an older version of Ruby on Rails, you will spend more time finding the gem that
works with the older version of Rails.

You will constantly look at the API of an older version of Rails. If a new team
member joins the project, it will take much longer to get up-to-date because that
person might want to use a method introduced in the latest version of Ruby on Rails.
Since the project is not using the latest version of Ruby on Rails, the newcomer
would have to find an alternative way.

Finally, there is the issue of security. The Ruby on Rails core team maintains
security of only certain versions of Ruby on Rails as per their [Official Security Policy](https://guides.rubyonrails.org/maintenance_policy.html#security-issues).
We all should take security seriously, and we should try to have our projects in the
latest version of Ruby on Rails.


Expert Ruby on Rails, applied version by version. Over the last {years} years we have upgraded many Rails applications and brought them up to date with the latest version.

Ruby on Rails upgrades.

Ruby on Rails upgrades

The cost of not having the latest Ruby on Rails version is hidden. You pay this cost very slowly in terms of lost productivity.

Every new version of Ruby on Rails brings more good stuff.

Features you never get

The new gems make themselves compatible with the latest version of Ruby on Rails. If you are using an older version of Ruby on Rails, you will spend more time finding the gem that works with the older version of Rails.

Hunting for compatible gems

You will constantly look at the API of an older version of Rails.

Reading the wrong documentation

If a new team member joins the project, it will take much longer to get up-to-date because that person might want to use a method introduced in the latest version of Ruby on Rails. Since the project is not using the latest version of Ruby on Rails, the newcomer would have to find an alternative way.

Slower onboarding

What it costs you

Keep your Rails application current without disrupting your business. We handle Ruby and Rails upgrades, dependency updates, deprecated APIs, test failures, and compatibility issues, helping you move to newer versions safely while improving the overall health of your codebase.

Ruby on Rails Upgrades

These days, customers expect applications to feel instant. It doesn’t
matter whether they’re working with thousands of records or millions.
They expect graphs to load quickly, chat to feel real-time, and
attachments to appear without hesitation. Ruby on Rails is fast out of
the box, but as an application grows, small design decisions start to
compound. A few extra queries here, an unbounded background job there,
and before you know it, the app slows down.

BigBinary has been working with Ruby on Rails for over 14 years, and
performance work has been a constant theme. Sometimes it’s a classic
N+1 query. Sometimes Sidekiq is configured in a way that creates
bottlenecks instead of throughput. Sometimes Redis caching is doing
more harm than good—causing thundering herds, stale data problems, or
wasted memory without improving real-world speed.

We’ve also seen many teams try to “buy” their way out of performance
problems by throwing more compute at them. That can mask symptoms for a
while, but it usually turns into an expensive habit. You end up paying
more each month while the underlying inefficiencies continue to grow—
and eventually the same problems show up again at a higher scale.

Our approach starts with measurement, not guesswork. We profile the
application in production-like conditions, look at real request traces,
and identify what’s actually slow: database queries, view rendering,
external API calls, background jobs, or asset delivery. From there, we
focus on changes that move the needle for end users, not
micro-optimizations that only look good on paper.

A lot of performance wins come from improving data access patterns. We
tune queries, add the right indexes, remove unnecessary joins, and
reduce repeated work through eager loading and smarter caching. We also
pay attention to how data flows through the system—because the fastest
query is the one you never run.

Background processing is another common source of “why is the app slow?”
pain. We help teams make jobs predictable and safe: right-sized
concurrency, sensible queues, idempotent retries, and visibility into
failures and latency. Done well, Sidekiq becomes a lever for speed and
reliability rather than a mysterious box that occasionally catches
fire.

We also look beyond code. Caching strategy, CDN configuration, file
storage patterns, and observability setup can make or break performance
at scale. The goal is to create a system that stays fast as the product
evolves—where you can spot regressions early, understand what changed,
and fix issues before customers feel them.

Performance work shouldn’t be a one-time rescue mission. We aim to leave
you with a faster application and a clearer toolkit: dashboards, alerts,
and practical guidelines so future features don’t quietly undo the
gains. The result is an app that feels snappy to users, costs less to
run, and gives your team confidence as you grow.

Please checkout our scaling Rails series of blogs where we have discussed in depth
all the parameters that can be tuned to make an application perform and scale.


Expert Ruby on Rails, applied where it is actually slow. We profile before we change anything, then fix what real users feel — not what looks good on paper.

Ruby on Rails performance enhancements.

Ruby on Rails Performance Enhancements

We profile the application in production-like conditions.

Production-like profiling

Real request traces

Database queries, view rendering, external API calls, background jobs, or asset delivery.

Find what is actually slow

We focus on changes that move the needle for end users, not micro-optimizations that only look good on paper.

Changes that users feel

We start with measurement

Many teams try to “buy” their way out of performance problems by throwing more compute at them.

We tune queries, add the right indexes, remove unnecessary joins, and reduce repeated work through eager loading and smarter caching.

Data access patterns

We help teams make jobs predictable and safe: right-sized concurrency, sensible queues, idempotent retries, and visibility into failures and latency.

Background processing

Caching strategy, CDN configuration, file storage patterns, and observability setup can make or break performance at scale.

Beyond the code

Where the wins are

Slow Rails applications can hurt both user experience and developer productivity. We investigate database queries, background jobs, caching, memory usage, application code, and infrastructure to find bottlenecks and make your application faster, more efficient, and easier to scale.

Ruby on Rails is a sharp tool. That’s why we love it. However, it also
means it’s easy to write code that “works today” but becomes hard to
maintain over time. We’ve seen codebases where core classes were opened
for small reasons and custom methods were added. In some cases, existing
methods were overridden.

These and similar practices can make a codebase harder to understand,
harder to test, and riskier to change. Rails usually provides cleaner,
more idiomatic ways to solve the same problems. A code audit typically
takes 2 to 5 days, depending on the size and complexity of the project.

The audit starts with understanding your application’s shape: the domain
model, major workflows, and where the team feels friction today. We then
review the code for maintainability, readability, and correctness. We
look for “surprises” in the system—hidden monkey patches, implicit
callbacks, confusing metaprogramming, and behavior that changes based on
load order or environment.

We also examine architectural choices that quietly accumulate cost.
Overgrown models, tangled service objects, duplicated business rules,
and controllers doing too much work are common culprits. We pay special
attention to boundaries: where business logic lives, how data flows, and
whether the design makes future changes easier or harder.

A good audit isn’t only about style. We flag correctness and safety
issues too: inconsistent validations, missing database constraints,
unsafe background job patterns, weak error handling, and places where a
small bug could become a big incident. If security or performance issues
are obvious during the review, we’ll call them out as well—even if the
audit is primarily about code quality.

At the end, you get a detailed report with what we found, why it
matters, and concrete recommendations. We also prioritize the fixes:
quick wins you can apply immediately, medium-term refactors, and longer
structural improvements. The goal is to give your team a clear, practical
path to a calmer, more maintainable Rails codebase.


Expert Ruby on Rails, turned on your own application. You get findings that name real files and real lines, prioritised so you know what to fix first and what you can leave alone.

Ruby on Rails code audit.

Code Audit for Ruby on Rails Applications

Hidden monkey patches, implicit callbacks, confusing metaprogramming, and behavior that changes based on load order or environment.

Surprises in the system

Overgrown models, tangled service objects, duplicated business rules, and controllers doing too much work are common culprits.

Architecture that quietly accumulates cost

Where business logic lives, how data flows, and whether the design makes future changes easier or harder.

Where the logic lives

Inconsistent validations, missing database constraints, unsafe background job patterns, weak error handling, and places where a small bug could become a big incident.

Correctness and safety

What we look for

If security or performance issues are obvious during the review, we’ll call them out as well—even if the audit is primarily about code quality.

Quick wins

Medium-term refactors

Longer structural improvements

Get an experienced second set of eyes on your Ruby on Rails application. We review your architecture, code quality, security, database usage, performance, dependencies, and test coverage, then provide practical recommendations your engineering team can act on.

Ruby on Rails Code Audit

Ruby on Rails applications age quietly. New Rails and Ruby releases come out, security advisories are published, dependencies move on, and before you know it, your app is running on a fragile stack that nobody wants to touch. Our Rails maintenance service is designed to stop that slow drift into “legacy mode” and keep your application modern, secure, and dependable.

BigBinary focuses exclusively on Ruby on Rails, and we’ve been doing it for years. We’ve upgraded apps across multiple major Rails and Ruby versions, untangled complex dependency trees, and dealt with all the little edge cases that never show up in tutorials but always show up in real production systems. That experience lets us move quickly and safely, without breaking your existing business workflows.

A typical maintenance engagement includes regular Rails and Ruby upgrades, systematic dependency updates, and prompt application of security patches. We review deprecation warnings, clean up old code paths, and keep your app compatible with current versions of libraries and services. Instead of a large, painful upgrade every few years, you get small, controlled changes on a predictable schedule.

Maintenance isn’t just about versions and gems. We also keep an eye on performance and reliability. We monitor slow queries, memory usage, and background jobs, and we address issues before they become outages. Over time, we reduce technical debt in the areas that matter most—places where small fixes can yield big wins in speed and stability.

We understand that production systems cannot afford surprises. Our process emphasizes clear communication, staging environments, automated test suites, and rollback plans. You get visibility into what’s changing and why, along with a team that treats your application with the same care and caution as you do.

With BigBinary handling your Rails maintenance, your team is free to focus on features, product decisions, and customer experience instead of chasing warnings or firefighting production issues. Your app stays healthy, your stack stays current, and Rails remains an asset—not a risk—at the core of your business.


Expert Ruby on Rails, kept in good repair. Your team stays on product and customers while we hold the line on versions, security and uptime.

Ruby on Rails maintenance.

Ongoing Ruby on Rails maintenance covering upgrades, security patches, performance tuning and error monitoring for your application.

Ruby on Rails Maintenance

Regular upgrades, on a predictable schedule.

Rails and Ruby upgrades

Systematic updates that keep your app compatible with current versions of libraries and services.

Dependency updates

Security patches

We review deprecation warnings and clean up old code paths.

Deprecation cleanup

Slow queries, memory usage, and background jobs.

Performance watch

In the places where small fixes can yield big wins in speed and stability.

Technical debt reduction

What’s included

Instead of a large, painful upgrade every few years, you get small, controlled changes on a predictable schedule.

You get visibility into what’s changing, why we’re changing it, and when it will reach production.

Clear communication

Changes are tested in a production-like environment before they reach your customers, giving us a chance to catch application and infrastructure issues early.

Staging environments

We rely on automated tests to catch regressions across existing workflows as Rails, Ruby, dependencies, and application code change.

Automated test suites

When a change carries meaningful production risk, we plan the way back before moving forward. If something unexpected happens, we can respond quickly instead of figuring out recovery under pressure.

Rollback plans

Keeping production running

Running a Rails application requires continuous attention long after the initial launch. We provide ongoing maintenance covering bug fixes, security updates, dependency upgrades, performance improvements, monitoring, and production issues so your team can focus on building the business.

Team augmentation with BigBinary is about adding experienced Ruby on Rails engineers to your team without the long hiring cycle or onboarding headache. When deadlines are tight, priorities are shifting, or your roadmap is bigger than your current capacity, we step in as an extension of your existing team—not as a separate agency off to the side.

Our engineers bring years of hands-on experience building and maintaining real-world Rails applications. We’re comfortable working in complex codebases, dealing with legacy decisions, and navigating the trade-offs between speed and long-term maintainability. Whether you need help building new features, improving performance, or paying down technical debt, we slot in where the impact is highest.

From day one, we adopt your tools, rituals, and processes. We join your standups, participate in code reviews, follow your coding standards, and communicate in the same channels your team already uses. The goal is to feel like “more of your team,” not “some external vendor.” That tight alignment keeps context-switching low and output high.

Engagements are flexible. You can bring in one engineer or a small group, for short-term support or long-term collaboration. As your needs change, you can scale the team up or down without worrying about recruiting, onboarding, or offboarding full-time employees. You get senior-level productivity with far less operational overhead.

Code quality and knowledge sharing are core to how we work. We leave your codebase better than we found it—cleaner abstractions, fewer surprises, stronger test coverage, and clearer documentation. Along the way, we share patterns, practices, and insights so your in-house team gets stronger, too.

With BigBinary augmenting your team, you can move faster on your roadmap while keeping quality and stability under control. You stay focused on product and business priorities, while we focus on writing solid Rails code that supports those goals.


Expert Ruby on Rails, added to the team you already have. Scale up for a quarter or stay for years, with no recruiting cycle to run first.

Ruby on Rails team augmentation.

Grow your engineering capacity with senior Ruby on Rails developers who join your team and adapt to your existing processes.

Team Augmentation

From day one, we adopt your tools, rituals, and processes. We join your standups, participate in code reviews, follow your coding standards, and communicate in the same channels your team already uses.

Your tools and rituals

Whether you need help building new features, improving performance, or paying down technical debt, we slot in where the impact is highest.

Where the impact is highest

We’re comfortable working in complex codebases, dealing with legacy decisions, and navigating the trade-offs between speed and long-term maintainability.

Complex codebases

You can bring in one engineer or a small group, for short-term support or long-term collaboration. As your needs change, you can scale the team up or down without worrying about recruiting, onboarding, or offboarding full-time employees. You get senior-level productivity with far less operational overhead.

Scale up or down

We leave your codebase better than we found it—cleaner abstractions, fewer surprises, stronger test coverage, and clearer documentation. Along the way, we share patterns, practices, and insights so your in-house team gets stronger, too.

Knowledge stays with you

How we fit in

To feel like more of your team, not some external vendor.

Add experienced Ruby on Rails developers to your existing engineering team without spending months recruiting and onboarding. Our developers work within your tools and processes, collaborate directly with your team, and contribute to features, bug fixes, performance improvements, and the long-term maintainability of your application.

BigBinary has been a huge asset for Gumroad. They've helped us ship features we wouldn't have been able to otherwise. If you’re looking for a ruby/rails-focused dev shop, they have my full endorsement!