Does Ruby on Rails Work With DigitalOcean?

Fully CompatibleLast verified: 2026-02-20

Ruby on Rails runs excellently on DigitalOcean with multiple deployment options and strong community support.

Quick Facts

Compatibility

full

Setup Difficulty

Easy

Official Integration

No — community maintained

Confidence

high

Minimum Versions

Ruby on Rails: 6.0

How Ruby on Rails Works With DigitalOcean

Rails applications deploy seamlessly on DigitalOcean through multiple paths: traditional VPS droplets with manual setup, App Platform for managed deployments, or Kubernetes clusters for scaling. DigitalOcean's simplicity aligns perfectly with Rails' convention-over-configuration philosophy—developers can have a production Rails app running in minutes using App Platform by connecting a GitHub repo, or spin up a $6/month droplet and use standard Rails deployment tools like Capistrano or Kamal. The developer experience is straightforward: DigitalOcean provides clear documentation, one-click PostgreSQL/Redis databases, and straightforward networking. For architecture, most Rails apps fit well on a single or dual-droplet setup with load balancing, while DigitalOcean's managed databases handle PostgreSQL with automatic backups. The ecosystem is mature—you'll find numerous Rails-specific tutorials and the community actively uses DO for hosting.

Best Use Cases

→Early-stage startups launching MVPs with predictable costs and simple infrastructure management

→Small-to-medium SaaS applications with steady traffic using App Platform for zero-ops deployments

→Content management systems and admin dashboards requiring reliable PostgreSQL backing

→Development teams wanting to avoid AWS complexity while maintaining production-grade infrastructure

Rails App Platform Deployment Config

bash

brew install doctl && doctl apps create

yaml

name: my-rails-app
services:
- name: web
  github:
    repo: myusername/my-rails-app
    branch: main
  build_command: bundle install && rails db:migrate && rails assets:precompile
  run_command: bundle exec puma -t 5:5 -p 8080
  http_port: 8080
  envs:
  - key: RAILS_ENV
    value: production
  - key: RAILS_MASTER_KEY
    scope: RUN_TIME
    value: ${RAILS_MASTER_KEY}
databases:
- name: postgres
  engine: PG
  production: true

Known Issues & Gotchas

warning

App Platform has cold start delays and limited environment customization compared to VPS

Fix: Use App Platform for low-traffic apps or standard configurations; migrate to Droplets + Kamal for more control or performance-critical applications

warning

Managed databases have network restrictions; Rails apps must be in same VPC or use connection pooling carefully

Fix: Keep databases and app droplets in the same region/VPC, use PgBouncer for connection pooling if needed

critical

File uploads to local storage don't persist across App Platform redeploys

Fix: Configure Rails Active Storage with DigitalOcean Spaces (S3-compatible object storage) instead of local disk

info

Limited auto-scaling options on basic droplets

Fix: Use App Platform's built-in auto-scaling, or manually configure load balancing across multiple droplets

Alternatives

•Heroku + Rails: More opinionated and expensive, but zero infrastructure management required
•AWS EC2 + Rails: More powerful and flexible, but significantly more complex setup and steeper learning curve
•Render + Rails: Similar simplicity to DigitalOcean App Platform with auto-deploy, slightly more limited customization

Resources

docsDigitalOcean App Platform Rails Documentation tutorialDeploy Rails with Kamal on DigitalOcean docsRails Official Deployment Guide githubKamal GitHub Repository

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