“We’re switching to microservices” — a phrase you can hear at every other IT meeting. But microservice architecture is not a silver bullet, and for many organizations it can create more problems than it solves.
Monolith Isn’t Always Bad
Monolithic architecture has its advantages: simplicity of deployment, no network latency between components, easier testing and debugging, lower operational complexity. For systems with a small team and stable requirements, a monolith can be the optimal choice.
When Microservices Make Sense
Microservices are justified when: different parts of the system have different rates of change; different components have different scaling requirements; multiple independent teams work on the system; you need the ability to deploy parts of the system independently.
Hidden Costs of Microservices
Transitioning to microservices means: the need for container orchestration (Kubernetes), implementing distributed logging and tracing, managing inter-service communication, ensuring data consistency without distributed transactions, significantly more complex testing.
Our Recommendation
Start with a “modular monolith” — a well-structured monolith with clear module boundaries. If a specific module eventually needs independent scaling or deployment, extract it into a separate service. This evolutionary approach minimizes risks.