What is Microservices?
Microservices is an architectural pattern where an application is built as a collection of small, independent services that communicate over APIs, each responsible for a specific business function.
Microservices Explained
Microservices architecture breaks a large application into small, independently deployable services. Each service handles a specific business function (user management, payments, notifications), has its own database, and communicates with others via APIs. This contrasts with monolithic architecture where all code lives in a single application. Microservices offer benefits like independent scaling, technology flexibility, and isolated failure domains, but add complexity in deployment, monitoring, and data consistency. At M3L Software, we help companies determine when microservices make sense (usually at scale) versus when a well-structured monolith is the better choice. For startups, we typically recommend starting with a modular monolith and extracting services as needed.
Key Features
Common Use Cases
Frequently Asked Questions
Microservices vs monolith?
Start with a monolith for simplicity, especially as a startup. Microservices make sense when you have multiple teams, different scaling needs per feature, or need technology diversity. Premature microservices is a common and costly mistake.
When should I switch to microservices?
Consider microservices when: your monolith is too large for one team, different components need different scaling, deployments affect unrelated features, or you need technology diversity.
How much does microservices architecture cost?
Microservices significantly increase infrastructure and operational costs (more servers, monitoring, deployment complexity). Budget 2-5x more for infrastructure compared to a monolith. The investment pays off at scale.
Related Terms
API
An Application Programming Interface (API) is a set of rules and protocols that allows different software applications to communicate with each other, enabling data exchange and functionality sharing.
Read moreDocker
Docker is a platform for building, shipping, and running applications in lightweight, isolated containers that package code with all dependencies for consistent deployment.
Read moreKubernetes
Kubernetes (K8s) is an open-source container orchestration platform that automates deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications across clusters of machines.
Read moreREST API
A REST API (Representational State Transfer) is an architectural style for building web APIs that uses standard HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) to perform operations on resources identified by URLs.
Read moreSaaS
Software as a Service (SaaS) is a software distribution model where applications are hosted in the cloud and accessed via subscription, eliminating the need for local installation.
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