I have no doubt that you can build and maintain large websites with Padrino. But I already know Rails.
A new framework would have to do something for me that both Rails and Sinatra won't.
Ah well, I don't think there actually is such a use case. I thought maybe because I once started a project with Sinatra that I later wished I'd built with Rails.
Really it seems to boil down to what the application is supposed to be doing. If it's primarily something else that just maybe speaks HTTP, like a microservice, then Sinatra is the more flexible choice, you can encapsulate the web logic and build your own abstractions as you see fit.
If it's primarily a website, then you'll want a full-fledged batteries-included framework.
Projects don't start as a microservice and evolve into a website. The one project I started with Sinatra should have been Rails from the beginning, as it was really a website. I just used Sinatra because at the time I knew it better.
A new framework would have to do something for me that both Rails and Sinatra won't.
Ah well, I don't think there actually is such a use case. I thought maybe because I once started a project with Sinatra that I later wished I'd built with Rails.
Really it seems to boil down to what the application is supposed to be doing. If it's primarily something else that just maybe speaks HTTP, like a microservice, then Sinatra is the more flexible choice, you can encapsulate the web logic and build your own abstractions as you see fit.
If it's primarily a website, then you'll want a full-fledged batteries-included framework.
Projects don't start as a microservice and evolve into a website. The one project I started with Sinatra should have been Rails from the beginning, as it was really a website. I just used Sinatra because at the time I knew it better.