Delivering software through microservices is a modern development approach with many benefits, for developers and customers alike. Using microservices means developing an application in separate, independent services. Users then access the whole application and its features through a front-end, unaware of the difference in delivery. Despite the benefits, there are things to consider before developing in microservices, such as the software's structure and the team's processes. Thankfully, many microservices frameworks exist to help lift some of that load. In this post, we look at: Benefits of developing in microservices The concept of frameworks and why you should consider them Programming languages and the frameworks that suit them Benefits of microservices Let's imagine you're building a retail website with microservices. You might decide to develop the following features as separate services: Website front-end (HTML, CSS, etc) Search Navigation Product database Call to actions Carousel Website widgets (new, popular, or sale items, for example) Customer product reviews Checkout and payment systems Support live chat Compared to a traditional website delivered as one object, microservices offer the following benefits: Product reliability - A problem with one component is less likely to impact your business. For example, people can still search and buy things if your customer reviews component goes down. Quicker fixes - If the container with your checkout system becomes corrupt, you can replace it with a fresh image in minutes. Reusable components - If you open a second retail website, both can share the same live chat feature. Scalability - You can easily scale your website's resources to meet each component's traffic demands. There are cost and network traffic trade-offs to consider, however. Microservices frameworks and why you should consider them If you want to deliver your product through microservices, there are many ways to plot out how it'll work. You could start from scratch and feel out a simple product structure along the way with nothing but your code and some containers. This approach is likely fine for small projects with few features, but things can get complex quickly if you need to scale suddenly. You could see a bunch of unintended impacts, such as: The product being hard to troubleshoot Risk of new team members struggling to figure out how things fit together Finding dependencies you didn't know you had This is where adopting an established microservices framework from the start makes things easier. As the name implies, a framework is a ready-made architectural structure for software development. A framework: Helps form the shape of your software as it lives on your infrastructure Offers teams clarity and focus Has tools to help with development Helps everyone in your team pull in the same direction Best of all, a framework saves you time in planning, development, and support. Frameworks are proven, well-worn paths to software delivery. Why spend time making mistakes or plotting structures when someone has already done that for you? There are countless frameworks available for projects delivered in microservices. Those you consider will depend on your project and the programming language you use. Popular frameworks for microservices Let's look at a handful of popular framework options for different development languages. This isn't a comprehensive list, though. There are plenty more frameworks on the market, and we recommend doing your research before committing to one. All these frameworks are open-source. Node.js and JavaScript Molecular The microservices framework promises: Molecular High-speed performance Extensibility through existing or self-developed plugins Fault tolerance through a built-in load balancer, circuit breakers, and more Compatibility with popular logging services Koa is a microservices framework that claims to be leaner and more customizable than its predecessor, . It also aims to make server creation easier. Koa Express LoopBack 4 is a microservices framework that includes: LoopBack 4 OpenAPI spec driven REST APIs Dependency injection through components, mixins, and repositories GraphQL support Java Micronaut is a solid option because of its compatibility with Java-like languages, such as Groovy and Kotlin. Micronaut It offers: Built-in cloud support Easy unit tests Quick configuration Support for API services like OpenAPI and Swagger Axon Framework A microservices framework by that's suitable for development using: AxonIQ Event sourcing Command Query Responsibility Segregation (CQRS) Domain-driven design (DDD) Spring Cloud Functions A microservices framework from Java-framework provider, Spring. boasts a framework that makes it easy to start small and grow. Spring Cloud Functions Its feature helps with connectivity with many service registries, and also offers an API gateway into your project. Spring Cloud They also offer optional metrics through . Micrometer Quarkus Specifically for Java developers who want to work with Kubernetes, is a microservices framework meant for use with and . Quarkus GraalVM HotSpot Python Flask is a minimalistic but powerful microservices framework for Python-developed projects. Flask Falcon is a microservices framework that plays well with other Python frameworks. Falcon It is: Extensible - see some examples on the Falcon wiki Compatible with both the and Web Server Gateway Interface (WSGI) Asynchronous Server Gateway Interface (ASGI) CherryPy As another lightweight Python offering, claims to be as easy as its name. CherryPy It is: HTTP and WSGI compliant Able to run on multiple ports Extensible through plugins Go Go Micro promises: Go Micro In-built authentication Dynamic configurations Service discovery through DNS Load balancing Message encoding Async and event streaming Echo promises: Echo HTTP routing with zero dynamic memory allocation Scalability Auto TLS certificates with Let's Encrypt Templates Data binding and rendering Fiber Fiber's developers describe as a Go equivalent of the Express framework. Built on top of Fasthttp, it offers easy routing definitions and helps deliver static files. Fiber .NET and C# ASP.NET is 's framework for building web apps and services. ASP.NET is especially useful for microservices thanks to its support of Docker images and the ease with that you can create APIs for each service. ASP.NET Microsoft What's next? In this post, we looked at microservices benefits, explored why using a microservices framework is a good idea, and listed some popular framework options. We also have posts about containerization on the way, including: Registries you should consider More detailed looks at containerization's benefits A deep dive into cloud orchestration and cloud automation A look at 'everything as code' Happy deployments! Also published here.

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