Web frameworks for me are one of those things that's "great until it isn't".

If you're making a simple app then web frameworks can feel downright magical (like the original "Build a blog in 15 minutes with Rails" demo [1]), but for anything that gets even remotely complicated, I find that they generally just get in the way.

I personally have grown to prefer the "mid-level" HTTP setups, like Express with Node.js or Vert.x with Java.

[1]

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gzj723LkRJY