Monolith vs Microservices: Complete Comparison Guide
Compare monolithic and microservice architectures on scalability, complexity, deployment, and team structure. Discover which architecture fits your project.
Monolith
A software architecture where the entire application is built and deployed as a single, cohesive unit. All functionality — from UI to database layer — resides in one codebase. Monoliths are simpler to develop, test, and deploy for smaller teams.
Microservices
A distributed architecture where the application is split into small, independent services that each fulfill a specific business function. Services communicate via APIs or message queues and can be separately developed, deployed, and scaled by different teams.
Comparison table
| Feature | Monolith | Microservices |
|---|---|---|
| Complexity | Low — one codebase, one deployment, simple debugging | High — distributed system with network communication and service discovery |
| Scalability | Vertical — scale the entire application as one unit | Granular horizontal scaling per service based on load |
| Deployment | Simple — deploy one artifact to one environment | Complex — orchestration of dozens of services with own lifecycles |
| Team structure | Suitable for small teams (2-10 developers) | Suitable for multiple autonomous teams with own services |
| Technology choice | One tech stack for the entire application | Polyglot — each service can use its own language and database |
| Fault tolerance | One bug can affect the entire application | Isolated failures — a failing service does not bring everything down |
Verdict
The choice between monolith and microservices is one of the most important architectural decisions. A monolith is almost always the right starting point — it is simpler to develop, debug, and deploy. Microservices only become valuable when your team, codebase, or scaling requirements reach the limits of a monolith. Many successful companies started as monoliths and gradually migrated to microservices. The "monolith-first" approach avoids premature optimization and the complexity of distributed systems when they are not needed.
Our recommendation
MG Software follows a "modular monolith first" philosophy. We build applications as well-structured monoliths with clear module boundaries, making a later split into microservices straightforward if needed. This approach offers the speed and simplicity of a monolith with the flexibility to grow. For most SaaS applications and web platforms we build, a modular monolith is more than sufficient. We only recommend microservices when teams grow beyond 15-20 developers or specific components require independent scalability.
Frequently asked questions
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