This debate resurfaces with every new application project: should we build a monolithic architecture, which is easier to get started with, or opt for microservices from the outset, as they are considered more scalable? For an SME or an agency, the answer is not simply a matter of following the latest trend. It depends on specific criteria: team size, budget, business complexity and growth ambitions.
What is a monolithic architecture?
A monolithic architecture brings together all of an application’s features — user interface, business logic and data access — within a single codebase, which is deployed as a single unit.
The main advantage: a single environment to configure, a single deployment to manage, and a team that can move forward quickly without being spread thin across several departments.
What is a microservices architecture?
Microservices break the application down into independent services, each responsible for a specific function (billing, authentication, notifications, etc.), which are deployed and scaled separately.
The main advantage: Each team can develop its own service without holding the others back, and scaling is carried out on a service-by-service basis rather than across the entire system.
The criteria that should guide your choice
Size of the technical team
Below 5 to 8 developers, microservices mainly add to operational complexity: orchestration, distributed monitoring, and version management across services. A small team then ends up spending more time maintaining the infrastructure than delivering value.
Business complexity
A product whose business domain is still evolving — a typical scenario for a start-up or an MVP — is better off remaining a monolithic system: the boundaries between modules are not yet stable, and breaking them down into services too early proves costly every time the product direction changes.
Budget and deadlines
The monolith remains the quickest and cheapest option to reach the market: less infrastructure to provision, fewer DevOps skills to draw on, and a shorter time-to-market.
Planned scalability
If a highly uneven load is foreseeable right from the start — for example, a module that has to handle a massive peak whilst the rest of the application remains light — then microservices really come into their own. Otherwise, this scalability remains theoretical and is not a genuine short-term requirement.
Why a monolith is often still the right choice for an SME
For the majority of SMEs and agencies, there are several factors in favour of the monolith:
● A small technical team, with no dedicated DevOps staff
● A need to deliver quickly in order to secure a contract
● A functional scope that is still likely to change frequently
● A limited infrastructure budget
A monolith well-structured into internal modules It can, in fact, be broken down into microservices at a later stage, once the business boundaries have been finalised and the team has been expanded.
When to consider microservices
Microservices become relevant when several factors come together:
● The technical team comprises more than ten developers spread across several teams
● Some modules have scaling requirements that differ significantly from those of others
● The product is mature and its functional scope is stable
● A DevOps team is in place to manage orchestration and distributed monitoring
Simplifying project management, regardless of the chosen architecture
Whatever technical approach is adopted, project management — the allocation of tasks amongst developers, time tracking, quotations and invoicing the batches delivered to the customer — remains a challenge in its own right for an agency or an SME. This is where a tool such as Opla simplifies management: each module, whether developed as a monolithic application or as a microservice, can be tracked as a separate work package, with its own budget and schedule.
For projects involving several teams or several clients, the customer portal and the access management enable clear visibility to be maintained without complicating internal organisation — the opposite of what a poorly designed microservices architecture can cause.
Management app.opla.pro to try it out on your next project.
