Microservices is an architectural pattern that splits an application into independently deployable, narrowly scoped services that communicate over the network. Contrast with a 'monolith' where all functionality is one deployable unit.
What it is
Microservices is an architectural pattern that splits an application into independently deployable, narrowly scoped services that communicate over the network. Contrast with a 'monolith' where all functionality is one deployable unit.
How it actually works
Microservices answer a specific problem: at organization scale, a single codebase can't be coordinated effectively across many teams. By splitting the application into ~10-100 services, each owned by a small team, you eliminate the cross-team blocking that slows large monoliths.
The trade-off is severe. Microservices introduce network latency between services, distributed-system failure modes, deployment complexity, observability complexity, and data-consistency challenges. For most teams under 30 engineers, a well-modularized monolith is faster to ship and easier to operate.
Common microservices misuse: 'service per feature' or 'service per table' — both lead to crippling latency and tight coupling. Good microservice boundaries match business domains (Stripe-shaped: 'Payments,' 'Identity,' 'Billing' as separate services with clear ownership).
Apex recommendation: start as a monolith with clear internal module boundaries. Move to microservices only when team size or scale demands it. Most B2B SaaS up to ~USD 50M ARR runs comfortably on a well-organized monolith plus a few supporting services (auth, queue workers).
At Apex IT Solutions
Our engineering team uses Microservices as part of standard delivery on relevant projects. Learn more about the related service: DevOps Solutions, or get a free consultation on whether this fits your project.
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