<strong>Microservices</strong> is an architectural pattern where you build your application as a collection of small, independent services that communicate via APIs. Each service handles one specific business function.
The Restaurant Chain Analogy
Monolith is one restaurant doing everything. Microservices is a food court—separate vendors for pizza, sushi, burgers. Each specializes, operates independently, but works together.
Monolith (One Big Restaurant)
Everything in one place
Microservices (Food Court)
Specialized vendors
Customers (Users)
Get what they need
Makes Request
Routes to Services
Independent Services
Split by business domain
User Service, Order Service, Payment Service
Each service has own database
No shared database between services
Communicate via APIs
HTTP/REST, gRPC, or message queues
Deploy independently
Update Payment Service without touching User Service
Scale independently
Scale Order Service during Black Friday, not User Service
Wrong
"Microservices are always better than monoliths"
Correct
<strong>Microservices add complexity</strong>. Start with a monolith. Only move to microservices when you have clear team boundaries, scaling needs, or deployment independence requirements.
Netflix microservices:
700+ microservices (User, Recommendations, Streaming, Billing, etc.)
Each team owns their service end-to-end
Can deploy 1000+ times per day
If Recommendations fails, Streaming still works