Micro App Vs Monolithic

Application development strategy is as important as an idea of the app. This is because product development strategy helps you to make sure if the application has been developed in the right way. Also, a good strategy will help you maintain application quality at a high standard.

What is Monolithic Application Development? Why use it?

A monolithic application is a closed structure and will work independently from other computing applications. A monolithic application can be built without a modular approach.

A complete application will be build using only one technology or language. In a simpler way, the monolithic application is a block of the brick built using the same material. This strategy or architecture won’t allow you to use different technology inside the same application if needed.

Pros:

In monolithic architecture, you don’t have to write the same code in multiple modules if they have the same functionality. Using this we can reduce code redundancy and increase the functional approach.

As you need to work with only one technology or framework then finding developers with the only a set of technology is quite easy and practical. You don’t need to worry about finding multiple developers for building an app.

Cons:

Technology and framework update every time. Keeping up with the update is hard for an application. As technology change, you need to update the code base as well as a framework. If there is a problem of an update then the project may crash or may face maintenance problem.

You can’t use different technology or language inside application even if it a perfect fit. As your application is tightly coupled with one technology, it becomes difficult to change that to a different technology.

What is Micro App Development? Why use it?

Microapp allows you to use multiple technologies to build an application. Microapp may consist of more than one technology or framework according to functional use. Microapp allows you to construct every function with their best-suited tech without impacting other functionality.

Pros:

Microapp will help you utilize different technologies for different functionality. It is because this application can perform more efficiently than other applicants.

Microapp allows the product owner to utilize different technology according to need. This help when one technology is outdated or deprecated by the vendor. We can replace complete functionality without impacting other functions.

You can scale application according to the usage of functionality. As each different function work independently, it helps to maintain the resources required independently. It will help the product owner to alter resources according to need.

Cons:

As different techniques can be used to build one application, you need developers with multiple set of skills. If you need to replace or update specific functionality, you need a developer with a relevant skill to update that feature. This would definitely impact your budget.

As you need to develop an app with multiple technologies this will impact the timeline needed for development. As new features are added this will increase the relative timeline to complete specific feature.

Which is better?

Choosing between architecture for application is quite important as well as time-consuming task. But you need to select one before you start development. As per monolithic or microapp, it depends on the complexity or functionality used in the application.

You can select between Monolithic or Mircoapp with a relevant timeline and go-live date. For an application which builds for enterprise app or long term usage need to follow Mircoapp. For POC and MVP I can recommend following monolithic architecture.  

Choose architecture wisely before proceeding further for development.