Monoliths vs Microservices [System Design Sundays]

Which kind of architecture setup suits you best.

Oct 24, 2022

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What is the difference between monoliths and microservices,

And when it comes to designing your Systems, when do you go with a particular kind?

Let’s get right into it.

Keep everything together or separate them all? That is the question. Image Source

Key Highlights

What is a Monolith- Every software solution will have multiple components that are needed to make it work. In the monolith architecture, all the components will be built and maintained together. This means when you change one element, you’ll have to rebuild the whole code.
What are Microservices- In microservices, the different parts of your system are deployed and maintained independently. Generally speaking, different microservices are assigned to different teams, and the microservices themselves interact through API calls/network relays.
Advantages of Monoliths- In a word- simplicity. Despite the bad rep they get sometimes, monoliths are a clean and efficient way to handle smaller-scope projects. In very coupled applications, testing before deploying also becomes much easier since you will be able to see if your new changes break your application as you run the tests. Unintended changes to microservices by contrast are often only visible after deploying (especially if not designed properly), leading to your application breaking at run time.
Advantages of Microservices- Simply put, this kind of system allows for a lot of scalability and flexibility. Since every service will be decoupled, you can really fine-tune your resource allocation based on needs. It will also be much quicker to change and deploy (assuming this is done right). This video by IBM is a pretty good overview of the overall advantages of Microservices.
The verdict- Microservices are cool and will come with a boost to scalability. However, they can be much harder to set up and will require more careful planning. Monoliths are considered boring by a lot of people, but they are generally a safe pick. They are easier to design and will have lower overhead (different independent services sounds cool till you have to dig through a code-base written in multiple languages, frameworks, and style). But if you are working large teams, independent services, and a huge emphasis on scale, then microservices might be your jam.

For my visual learners, check out the following video. It covers the debate in a super engaging way. I also liked how Dave links his analysis to talking about how choosing a particular setup would change your interactions with version control. Adds another layer to think about. He also demonstrates one of the most common failures wrt setting up Microservices, which destroys the benefits of such an architecture in the first place.

If you want to read about the thoughts of Tech Leaders on this topic, check out the following post by Refactoring. It’s filled with comments and insights from various experts on the topic. I also really liked his ending analysis, where Luca showed how different team structures would benefit from different architecture choices.

Refactoring

Monoliths vs Microservices 🗿

2 years ago · 13 likes · Luca Rossi

Lastly, if you have any experiences with these, I’d love to hear them. You can reply to this email, leave a comment on Substack, or use my social media links to reach out.

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