Microservices vs. Monolithic Architecture | What to Choose?

Are you choosing between microservices vs. monolithic architecture? Well, microservices will increase at a 22.5 percent annual rate worldwide between 2019 and 2025. Thus, the decision between monolithic vs. microservices architectures needs careful consideration. Here are a few crucial aspects to consider if you’re wondering what microservices best suit your organization. Should your company stick with monolithic or make the switch to microservices?

What Is Monolithic Architecture?

A monolithic application is made up of a single code base and a set of modules. And the business’s complexity and technical features determine the required number of modules. When applicable, the whole application—including dependencies—is created on a single system and deployed as a single executable binary.

When deciding on the best architectural type for your application, you must consider the pros and downsides of monolithic architecture. 

What Is Microservices Architecture?

Microservice architecture, also known as microservices, is a method for designing a single application to collect loosely linked services. Applications usually start as a monolithic architecture and evolve into a collection of interconnected microservices.

Microservices’ main idea is that breaking down some types of applications into many small pieces that operate together makes them simpler to build and maintain. Despite the increasing complexity of the design, microservices still provide several benefits over monolithic architectures.

Monolithic Architecture Pros and Cons

It’s a classic software architecture in which the structure is a single, indivisible unit. A monolith consists of a single code base that contains several modules. For many years, this architecture has been the standard functioning model. And numerous monolithic applications have been successfully built. 

The advantages of monolithic architecture include:

• Monolithic architecture makes it easier to start a new project and develop it
• It is significantly simple to test a monolithic structure
• Deployment is relatively easier than microservices 

The disadvantages of monolithic architecture:

• A large codebase may be quite difficult to understand
• The Integrated Development Environment (IDE) may become overloaded, and the size of the IDE might slow startup times
• Because each component is interconnected and dependent on the others, transitioning to new or improved technology, language, or framework is difficult
• Updating may be difficult since it necessitates the application’s redeployment
• Because each element has varied resource requirements, there can be scalability issues

Microservices architecture pros and cons

The merits of microservices seem compelling enough to have persuaded several major corporations, like Amazon, Netflix, and eBay, to embrace the concept. Microservices provide the following benefits over more monolithic design structures: 

• The failure of a single module might not result in an entire application to fail  
• Microservices provide you with the freedom to experiment with different technology stacks on a per-service basis. There will be fewer dependencies to worry about, and reverting changes will be considerably simpler. There is greater freedom when there is less code in play
• Developers can better understand the functionality of a service if it is made simpler
• Smaller codebases and scope mean faster deployments, allowing you to experiment with Continuous Deployment
• Because your services are separate, you may scale the most critical ones at the right times rather than the whole application. And this may result in cost savings if done appropriately

Microservices may be a hot trend. Still, the architecture does have drawbacks, including:

• Because everything is now a separate service, you must carefully manage requests that flow across your modules. Developers may require to implement additional code in one case to prevent delays. When remote calls encounter delays, difficulties will occur over time.
• Managing many databases and transactions may be a problem.
• Each service has its collection of logs that need examination. 
• The product may need coordination across different services, which won’t be as simple as deploying a single server.
• Microservices are fantastic for big firms, but they may be difficult to develop and maintain for smaller companies that need to build and iterate quickly without becoming bogged down in sophisticated orchestration. 

Microservices vs. Monolithic Architecture Advantages

It’s worth mentioning that you can resolve monolithic issues without requiring extensive re-architecting of your application. For example, Shopify began on a Ruby on Rails base and is now arguably the only force in the world capable of competing with Amazon.

The simplest architecture to implement is a monolithic architecture. The outcome will almost certainly be a monolith if no architecture is enforced. And this is particularly true with Ruby on Rails, which lends itself well to monolithic development because of the global availability of all the code at the application level. Because monolithic architecture is simple to build and helps teams move swiftly to get their products in front of consumers initially, it may take an application a long way.

Microservices, on the other hand, are ideal for huge projects. Microservices are established by collaborating services instead of monolithic architecture, which is made up of only one element. Each one is a small-scale service that focuses on specific business activities. Microservices have a huge influence on eCommerce, and the division of large-scale projects into little ones has become increasingly important, particularly among developers.

The ability of the separate modules to administer the API and execute specific tasks is one of the key reasons for their success. The microservice architecture breaks down services into small, self-contained elements, each having its own distinct role. 

Microservices vs. Monolithic: Which Is the Perfect Fit for Your Company?

According to Statista, the number of mobile apps downloaded in 2020 is 218 billion. So, the high demand for apps is pretty evident. For complex and evolving apps, the microservices architecture is more advantageous. Within one application, it provides comprehensive solutions for managing a sophisticated system of various functions and services. Microservices are excellent for platforms that cover a wide range of user journeys and workflows. However, implementing this model would be difficult without sufficient microservices expertise. 

And you should begin with a monolith if your business concept is new and you want to validate it. Microservices are unnecessary for a small engineering team trying to build a basic and lightweight application. A monolithic app will be considerably simpler to develop, modify, deploy, and test in this manner. While you can try your best to make the right choice between monolithic vs. microservices, it’s always a good idea to reach out to a professional team. And we can help you with it as an award-winning tech company; contact us today.