What are the downsides of the microservices approach?

Microservice architecture provides flexibility and scalability, but it complicates the development and maintenance of the system. Here are its main downsides:

#1. Complex infrastructure

Each service is a separate application with its own database, API, CI/CD, and monitoring. For dozens of services you need containerization, orchestration (Kubernetes), and a mature DevOps environment.

#2. Communication complexity

All interaction happens over the network. This brings latency, connection errors, and the need for retry mechanisms and distributed tracing.

#3. Complex testing

To verify one scenario, you need to spin up several services and their dependencies. Integration tests become expensive and fragile.

#4. Data management

Because of isolated databases, shared queries and transactions are hard to do. You have to use eventual consistency and events, which requires experience and discipline.

#5. Growing overhead

More code, configuration, logging, and duplicated logic make the system heavy for small teams.

Summary:

Microservices suit large, distributed projects. But without a mature architecture, DevOps, and team culture, they easily turn into chaos made of hundreds of small, poorly connected services.