Engineering Ruby on Rails platforms that grow with your business
Formulate builds, modernises and scales Rails platforms for enterprise and growth organisations — backed by 15+ years of production delivery, ISO 27001-certified processes and deep PostgreSQL and AWS expertise.
Embedded engineering team or project-based engagement. Incremental, milestone-driven delivery from discovery through to production.
15+ years delivering production Rails systems
ISO 27001 certified
Crown Commercial Service supplier
MVPs in 8–16 weeks
Enterprise & growth-stage clients
What we do
Rails engineering with the discipline enterprise platforms demand
Ruby on Rails is one of the most productive frameworks for building feature-rich web platforms — but production Rails at scale requires more than familiarity with the framework. It requires architectural rigour, disciplined data migration, robust testing and the kind of engineering practice that holds up years into a system's life.
Formulate has been delivering Rails platforms in demanding environments — regulated financial services, mission-critical operations, high-growth SaaS — for over 15 years. We bring that experience to every engagement.
15+
Years building production Rails platforms
ISO
27001 certified delivery, end-to-end
4M+
Records migrated on Rails projects
CCS
Crown Commercial Service supplier
Typical engagements
Legacy modernisation
Replatforming Microsoft Access, Visual Basic, classic ASP or ageing PHP/Java systems onto a Ruby on Rails and PostgreSQL core — preserving business logic, retiring technical debt.
Greenfield platform development
Building new Rails platforms end-to-end — from product discovery through to backend, frontend, infrastructure and launch — for growth companies and enterprise teams alike.
Rails performance & rescue
Diagnosing and resolving performance bottlenecks, upgrading Rails versions, restoring test coverage and stabilising platforms that have drifted from healthy engineering practice.
Data migration
Migrating complex legacy schemas onto PostgreSQL with full reconciliation, validation pipelines and zero-downtime cutovers where required.
API & integration layers
Rails-based APIs connecting CRMs, finance systems, payment providers, SaaS platforms and internal databases — giving teams a single, well-documented integration layer.
Ruby on Rails Services
How we can help
Our services span the full Rails lifecycle — from initial architecture through to ongoing engineering partnership.
Rails Architecture & Technical Strategy
Domain model design, service boundaries, infrastructure topology and the architectural decisions that keep a platform maintainable as it grows.
Greenfield Rails Platform Development
New Rails platforms built end-to-end — backend, frontend (Hotwire or React), infrastructure and launch — with engineering practices that hold up well beyond the initial release.
Legacy Modernisation onto Rails
Structured replatforming of Access, VB, classic ASP, legacy PHP and ageing Java onto Ruby on Rails and PostgreSQL — with incremental delivery and disciplined data migration.
Rails Performance, Refactoring & Rescue
Diagnosing performance bottlenecks, refactoring problematic code areas, upgrading Rails versions and stabilising platforms that have drifted from healthy practice.
PostgreSQL & Data Architecture
Schema design, indexing and migrations tuned for Rails workloads — handling complex transactional logic, large data volumes and analytical queries.
AWS Infrastructure & DevOps
Rails platforms deployed on AWS (ECS, RDS, S3, CloudFront) with Infrastructure-as-Code, automated backups, secrets management and clear runbooks.
CI/CD, Testing & Engineering Practice
Automated test suites (RSpec/Minitest), CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions), code-quality tooling and coaching for in-house teams adopting modern Rails practice.
Security, Compliance & ISO 27001
Rails platforms engineered to ISO 27001-aligned standards — with secure-by-default architecture, access control, audit logging and dependency management built in from the start.
Suitability
When Ruby on Rails is the right choice
You need to ship a feature-rich web platform quickly without compromising long-term maintainability
You are replacing a legacy system — Microsoft Access, classic ASP, legacy PHP, ageing Java — with a modern, well-structured web stack
Your platform combines complex business logic, structured relational data and frequent product iteration
You want a proven, mature framework with a long-term ecosystem and active maintenance roadmap — not a fast-moving experimental stack
You need a backend that integrates cleanly with PostgreSQL, AWS services, modern APIs and frontend frameworks such as Hotwire or React
Your team needs a framework that experienced developers can join and be productive with quickly
You operate in a regulated or financially sensitive environment where security, audit trails and controlled deployment matter
Ruby on Rails consultancy
Frequently asked questions
Is Ruby on Rails still a sensible choice in 2026?
Yes. Rails remains one of the most productive frameworks for building feature-rich web applications, with a mature ecosystem and an active maintenance roadmap. Shopify, GitHub and Basecamp continue to run on Rails at significant scale. For many business platforms, Rails is the right trade-off between developer productivity, long-term maintainability and ecosystem maturity.
What types of projects suit Rails best?
Rails is a strong fit for customer-facing web applications with complex business logic, internal operations platforms, legacy modernisation from older stacks, and line-of-business applications where developer productivity directly affects business velocity. It works well with PostgreSQL, AWS and both Hotwire and React frontends.
Can Rails handle enterprise-scale workloads?
Yes — provided the application is well-architected and operated. We design Rails platforms to scale through clean domain modelling, careful PostgreSQL design, background job processing and AWS infrastructure-as-code. We deliver these platforms to ISO 27001-aligned standards for enterprise and regulated clients.
Can you modernise our legacy system onto Rails?
Yes. We regularly replatform legacy systems — Microsoft Access, Visual Basic, classic ASP, ageing PHP or Java monoliths — onto Ruby on Rails and PostgreSQL. We use structured discovery, incremental delivery and disciplined data migration so that the business keeps running throughout the transition.
How long does a Rails project take?
A well-defined MVP can typically reach production in 8–16 weeks. Larger modernisation programmes are usually delivered in incremental releases over 6–18 months. We agree milestones up front so progress is visible throughout the engagement.
Can you take over an existing Rails application?
Yes. We perform Rails rescue and refactoring engagements: diagnosing performance and stability issues, upgrading old Rails versions, restoring missing test coverage, hardening infrastructure and bringing CI/CD and engineering practice up to a sustainable standard.
How do you handle security and compliance?
We are ISO 27001 certified and a Crown Commercial Service supplier. Our Rails engagements include secure-by-default architecture, dependency management, secrets management, access control, audit logging and processes aligned to the security expectations of regulated industries.
What does your CI/CD and testing practice look like?
We work with automated test suites (RSpec/Minitest), CI pipelines (GitHub Actions, GitLab or CircleCI), Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform/CDK) and observability tooling. Every change is testable, reviewable and reversible. We also coach in-house teams in the same practices where helpful.
How does Rails work with PostgreSQL and AWS?
Rails has first-class support for PostgreSQL, including JSONB, full-text search, materialised views and partitioning. We deploy Rails platforms onto AWS using ECS, RDS, S3 and CloudFront, with Infrastructure-as-Code, monitoring and automated backups built in.
Do you work with both growth and enterprise clients?
Yes. We work with growth-stage companies building their first serious platform and enterprise organisations modernising systems that are critical to their operations. The engineering discipline we apply is the same in both contexts — the scope and governance structure adapts to the client.
Book a call
Start the conversation
If you are exploring how Ruby on Rails could support a new platform, modernise a legacy system or stabilise an existing application, our team can help. A senior engineer will be in touch within one business day.
