I usually say this about the types of webframeworks they are:
Rails - > great for intermediate people who see benefits it brings. Great for pretty straight forward projects for beginners that can follow a book.
Sinatra -> Great for beginners to "just get something working". Not great if someone needs everything decided for them. Awesome for advanced people. Awesome for non-standard projects.
Padrino (Why don't we hear about this more?) -> kind of the sweet spot between the two. I honestly think that Padrino should rightfully start taking mindshare. I don't know why it hasn't.
Rails - > great for intermediate people who see benefits it brings. Great for pretty straight forward projects for beginners that can follow a book.
Sinatra -> Great for beginners to "just get something working". Not great if someone needs everything decided for them. Awesome for advanced people. Awesome for non-standard projects.
Padrino (Why don't we hear about this more?) -> kind of the sweet spot between the two. I honestly think that Padrino should rightfully start taking mindshare. I don't know why it hasn't.