Microservices are popular.
But most systems don’t actually need them.
After working on backend systems for more than 20 years – especially in e-commerce – I’ve seen many teams move to microservices too early.
The idea sounds attractive:
independent services, scalability, flexible deployments.
But in real business projects the trade-offs are often underestimated.
A microservices architecture introduces significant complexity:
- distributed systems communication
- service discovery and monitoring
- network latency between services
- complex deployments and infrastructure
- data consistency challenges
For many products – especially in early and mid stages – a well-structured monolith works better.
A modular monolith can provide:
- faster development
- simpler deployments
- easier debugging
- clearer data consistency
- lower operational overhead
In many PHP backend systems built with frameworks like Laravel, a clean modular architecture scales surprisingly far before microservices become necessary.
The real problem is not monoliths.
The real problem is poorly structured monoliths.
In practice, the best strategy is often:
Start with a modular monolith.
Introduce clear boundaries between domains.
Extract services only when scaling truly requires it.
Architecture decisions should follow product growth – not technology trends.
What architecture works best in your production systems: monolith or microservices?
