[jkaplan]

This comparison feels like it's less about Node vs Rails and more just about "batteries-included framework" vs not. (Although, perhaps there isn't really a Django/Rails equivalent in Node yet? I'm not definitively sure.)

>I’ve always found it hard to climb out of the plumbing, forget about it.

This is the crux it of it, and it's true for any web project not relying on "magic" frameworks. And of course, it comes with tradeoffs. Namely, frameworks can be inflexible, and they can be difficult to understand/debug under the hood.

There is no escaping these tradeoffs, with any framework or language. More magic means less plumbing and more initial speed, but less flexibility and potential issues as complexity/scale increases. It's all about trying to choose the best tool for the job.