Monolithic vs Microservice Server Architecture

Monolithic Architecture

This is considered to be the "traditional" method of application development. Monolithic applications are designed with the intent of handling multiple related tasks. Components of monolithic applications are NOT independently deployable; they depend greatly on other components.

Pros

Simple to develop
Horizontal scalability
Testability

Cons

Components in a monolithic application are interdependent. If one goes down, the whole application likely will.
Updating can be troublesome since you have to test the whole application rather than each component as you update them.

Microservice Architecture

Better known as microservices, microservice architecture structures applications as a collection of services. In a microservice application, components are independently deployable.

Pros

Components are independent of one another, making for quick testing and development of each component.
Future proof (adaptability)
Allows for applications to be developed, tested, and delivered quickly

Cons

Increased complexity
Components may be independent, but they still need to work together to make the application work. A component may be able to function on its own, but it needs to be able to interact with the entire application.