The best Ruby implementations, according to hackers
4 Ruby implementations were recommended on Hacker News between November 2025 and November 2026. We rank them by how many separate people recommend each one, and 2 earn the Hacker Approved badge.
Top picks
The two most recommended Ruby implementations with the badge. Each figure is one person. RecommendsCriticizes One comment
Runs Ruby on the JVM
Ruby running on the Java Virtual Machine, with access to Java libraries and full concurrency. Caveat: inline types are missed, and it is not quite identical to Ruby.
Fast performance, faster than alternatives
Fast Ruby implementation on GraalVM, relatively compatible with MRI and able to run native extensions. Some say it is hard to get working and was once a work in progress.
All 4 Ruby implementations, ranked
Select a column heading to sort. Approval share is recommenders out of everyone who gave an opinion; the tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs. Months counts the months, out of 13, in which someone recommended it.
| Rank | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JRuby | 13 | 2 | 87% | 9 | — | Approved |
| 2 | Spinel Ruby compiler | 12 | 8 | 60% | 2 | — | — |
| 3 | TruffleRuby | 10 | 1 | 91% | 8 | — | Approved |
| 4 | mruby | 8 | 3 | 73% | 4 | — | — |
How we rank
Rank is the number of separate people who recommend a product in a Hacker News comment over the past year. Someone who praises the same Ruby implementation in five threads counts once.
The badge goes to Ruby implementations that at least 10 people recommend, with recommenders outnumbering critics at least 2 to 1, recommended in at least 4 of the 13 months.
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