# TruffleRuby

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/truffleruby/

6 people recommended TruffleRuby in Hacker News comments, 4 had mixed feelings and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 12 months, in 9 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** 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.

Summary written by Claude from 18 comments.

## Why people recommend it

- Fast performance, faster than alternatives (5 comments in the sample): "TruffleRuby is the project that proves that Ruby the language doesn't have to be slow" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47822462)) "True concurrency (like JRuby), fast performance and thread-safe hashes." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46622542)) "jRuby or TruffleRuby are better - and far faster - options" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48533184))
- Respected project worth trying (3 comments in the sample): "It's impressive. I spoke to Chris Seaton back when it was getting started, and loved many of the things they were doing." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45829285)) "TruffleRuby is very capable and deserves to be promoted more" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47599025)) "If you're interested in the project, please give it a try." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47601718))
- Relatively compatible with MRI Ruby (2 comments in the sample): "TruffleRuby is actually Ruby and relatively compatible with MRI." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50195897)) "it’s able to run native extensions" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49126024))
- Concurrency and Ruby interop (1 comment in the sample): "gets you the elegance and Ruby interop" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50196257))

## What people warn about

- Hard to get working for some (2 comments in the sample): "some got it to work, others did not" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47599382)) "faced issues each time on that code base" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47597656))

## Other Ruby implementations people recommend

- [JRuby](https://hackerapproved.com/p/jruby/): 11 recommend, 2 mixed, 2 criticize
- [mruby](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mruby/): 7 recommend, 1 mixed, 3 criticize
- [Spinel Ruby compiler](https://hackerapproved.com/p/spinel/): 6 recommend, 6 mixed, 8 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "TruffleRuby", https://hackerapproved.com/p/truffleruby/ (6 recommend, 4 mixed, 1 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.