Rails 4 update and support options
All information about Rails 4: What's new in this version, your Rails 4 EOL version today and support alternatives to a costly Rails update.
Each new version of Rails builds on the strengths of its predecessors and offers developers improved tools, higher performance and new features to create web applications more efficiently and effectively.
A Rails update to the latest version allows developers to benefit from these advances. In addition, for security reasons, at a certain point it is essential to either upgrade to a new version or to guarantee the security of the applications in some other way.
Here you can find out everything about Rails 4, what EOL (End of Life) means in the Rails world and how you can protect your outdated Rails version today.
End of Support (EOL) Rails 4 is no longer officially supported
Commercial applications still run on Rails 4, but community support for Rails 4 expired in 2019. This means that the voluntary open source community no longer provides patches for security vulnerabilities. As a result, applications based on Rails 4 are susceptible to critical security risks.
Users should at least upgrade to Rails 7 to regain community support or switch to a commercial support option - such as Rails LTS.
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Rails 4: Performance, Security, and Simplicity
Released in June 2013, Rails 4 was a refinement of the framework, focusing on performance, security, and a cleaner codebase. It improved caching, added security defaults, and removed legacy features to streamline development. This version also set the foundation for modern, scalable web applications.
Key Updates in Rails 4
- Strong parameters for security
Strong Parameters replaced the old attr_protected system. This new approach required developers to explicitly define which parameters were allowed, preventing mass-assignment vulnerabilities and improving application security. - Active Job for background processing
Active Job was introduced in Rails 4.2 to provide a unified interface for handling background jobs. Developers could now queue tasks asynchronously using systems like Sidekiq, Resque, or Delayed Job, making background processing easier to manage and scale. - Turbolinks for faster navigation
Turbolinks improved page speed by only replacing the <body> of a page instead of reloading everything. This enabled faster navigation and smoother transitions, making traditional Rails applications behave more like single-page apps without the need for additional JavaScript frameworks. - Russian Doll Caching for performance
Russian Doll Caching allowed nested fragments of a page to be cached independently. This meant that instead of regenerating an entire page on every request, only the modified parts were updated, dramatically improving performance for applications with dynamic content. - WebSockets and streaming for real-time updates
Rails 4 introduced enhanced support for WebSockets and streaming, making it easier to build real-time applications. Developers could now implement live-updating features such as notifications and chat applications without relying on inefficient polling techniques. - Concerns for cleaner code structure
Concerns provided a structured way to organize reusable code in models and controllers. By allowing developers to extract shared logic into separate modules, Rails 4 improved maintainability and helped keep models and controllers lightweight. - Secrets.yml for secure configuration management
The introduction of secrets.yml provided a centralized way to manage sensitive credentials such as API keys and encryption secrets. This helped keep secrets out of source control and improved the overall security of Rails applications.
Rails 4 was a major step in performance optimization, security hardening, and simplification. It removed outdated features, introduced smarter defaults, and improved caching—paving the way for Rails 5’s real-time features.
Challenges when updating Rails 4
There are good reasons that prevent companies from updating to the latest version of Rails. Here are some challenges you might run into when planning your upgrade.
- Extensive gem upgrades are necessary
Any gem that integrates with Rails needs to be updated to a newer version. Unmaintained gems must be replaced with a newer version. - Monkey patches will break
Any monkey patches that hook into the internals of Rails or other gems typically break with an upgrade. - Upgrades can be hard to execute
When a Rails application has poor test coverage, testing an update is challenging. In addition, all feature development must be paused during the upgrade. - A long path to compatibility
To run on a currently supported version, you must upgrade to at least Rails 7.2. - Secrets.yml is no longer supported
Rails 7 has dropped support for secrets. Any secrets must be migrated to use encrypted credentials. - Ruby version challenges
You’ll need to migrate to Ruby 3.1+, navigating breaking changes to the Ruby standard library. - New handling for frontend assets
Rails has overhauled its asset pipeline three times—first moving to Sprockets, then to Webpacker, then to Propshaft with external build tools (like esbuild) for JavaScripts. - API changes
As the Rails API evolves with every major version, various classes, methods and options have been renamed or removed.
The creators of Rails LTS About makandra
makandra are the sharpest team of Rails developers I've worked with in my career. I was very impressed how they jumped into an old, hairy codebase and were able to immediately start improving our testing and reliability, without much management from us. The business value we received was off the charts.
Let’s talk about Rails LTS
We’re happy to assist if you need support managing an older Rails version. Whether you want to avoid an upgrade with Rails LTS or need a partner to modernize your application, we’re the right choice for you as a Rails agency with 15+ years of experience.