Learn about the best microservices framework in this comprehensive and informative article. Find out their strengths to choose the best one for your needs.
Did you know that 63% of enterprises have adopted microservices architectures to enhance their development agility and scalability? Microservices architecture is favored for building distributed applications composed of small, independent, and loosely coupled services.
They offer many benefits. However, developing microservices also poses some challenges, such as complexity, coordination, testing, and monitoring. Therefore, you need a microservices framework.
But what is a microservices framework? And with a plethora of frameworks available, how do you choose the right one? This article will be your answer.
Let's explore the top 10 microservices frameworks and their key features!
What Is A Microservices Framework?
A microservices framework is an architecture that allows developers to build applications as a collection of small, independent services. Each service runs its own process and communicates with others through APIs.
This approach offers flexibility and scalability because components can be developed, deployed, and scaled independently. By breaking down complex applications into manageable pieces, microservices frameworks make updates easier and development cycles faster.
Overall, this method is efficient in resource use and is well-suited for large-scale applications.
Here are the 12 most popular frameworks you should consider to streamline your microservices architecture in 2024:
Spring Boot
Eclipse Vert.x
Dropwizard
Restlet
Helidon
Micronaut
Spark
Ratpack
Javalin
Lagom
Quarkus
Gin in Golang
1. Spring Boot with Spring Cloud
Spring Boot is a popular Java framework perfect for developing microservices. It includes a variety of extension projects under Spring Cloud, allowing you to uild full-stack microservices quickly.
The biggest advantage of Spring Boot is its ability to create large-scale systems starting from a simple architecture with several collaborating components. Whether you need to build a small or large-scale system, Spring Boot is a great choice.
In addition, its Inversion of Control (IoC) feature ensures seamless integration with other popular frameworks, making your development process smoother and more efficient.
Key features:
Spring has various modules to easily integrate with popular databases.
Spring Boot can be easily integrated with Resilience4J. It provides multiple functionalities to handle failure in distributed systems.
Spring has capabilities to build reactive apps. It is super easy to make REST APIs with the help of Spring MVC.
Spring is easy to integrate with MQ to create asynchronous-style services. It also has a module to build SOAP-based applications.
With the help of various modules, Spring provides an abstraction to integrate with Apache Kafka, AMQP, RabbitMQ, and ActiveMQ.
2. Eclipse Vert.x
Vert.x is a popular microservices framework from the Eclipse Foundation. It's not only great for microservices in Java but also supports other languages like Python, Kotlin, JavaScript, Ruby, Groovy, Scala, and Ceylon.
One of the standout features of Eclipse Vert.x is its ability to build reactive microservices. It's designed to be event-driven and non-blocking, which means your application can handle a high volume of concurrent requests using only a small number of kernel threads. This allows your application to scale efficiently with minimal hardware requirements.
Key features:
Vert.x core is around 650 kB in size.
You can use Vert.x core as a standalone library. Or you can use any of the many modules available to extend its functionality. For example, there are modules for application development, database access, messaging, clustering, service discovery, circuit breakers, and more.
Vert.x follows the Reactive Manifesto principles and provides a reactive programming model based on callbacks, futures, promises, and streams.
Vert.x supports clustering, service discovery, and distributed event bus, which allow you to build fault-tolerant and scalable microservices.
Vert.x doesn’t impose any specific architecture or design pattern on your application. You can use it to build monoliths, microservices, or anything in between.
3. Dropwizard
Dropwizard is a comprehensive microservices framework for developers to create high-performance, RESTful web services that are easy to maintain. It brings together several Java libraries, like Jetty, Jersey, Jackson, Metrics, and Hibernate, into one cohesive package.
What makes Dropwizard effective is how it streamlines the application development process. By combining these libraries, Dropwizard offers a toolset that simplifies building and managing web services.
Key features:
Dropwizard configures your application using YAML—which is easy to read and write.
Dropwizard uses SLF4J and Logback for logging and provides sensible defaults for formatting and rotation.
Dropwizard integrates with Metrics—a library that offers various metrics, such as counters, gauges, histograms, timers, etc.—to measure the performance and health of your application.
Dropwizard provides testing utilities—such as ResourceTestRule and DropwizardAppRule—to help you write unit and integration tests for your application.
Dropwizard supports relational databases via Hibernate and JDBI and provides connection pooling, migrations, validations, and more.
4. Restlet
Restlet is a great tool for Java developers looking to create microservices following the REST architectural style. This framework includes both a lightweight RESTful web framework and a REST client engine.
Restlet is versatile, supporting both server-side and client-side development. It can run on any Java platform, including Java SE, Java EE, Google App Engine, and Android.
Key features:
Restlet Framework models your application as a set of resources, each with a unique URI, and supports the standard HTTP request methods.
It allows you to manipulate different representations of your resources and provides converters, parsers, and writers to handle them.
Restlet Framework uses annotations, such as @Get, @Post, and @Put, to map your resource methods to HTTP request methods and specify the expected and produced representations.
Restlet Framework uses components like Server, Client, Router, and Filter to assemble your application and provides a fluent API to configure them.
Restlet Framework offers various extensions to integrate with other popular frameworks and technologies.
5. Helidon
Helidon is a set of Java libraries developed by Oracle used to write microservices. It supports imperative and reactive programming styles and comes in two flavors: Helidon SE and Helidon MP.
Helidon SE is a lightweight and functional framework that gives you complete application control. On the other hand, Helidon MP is a declarative and standards-based framework that adheres to the MicroProfile specifications.
Key features:
Helidon provides a configuration API that supports various sources and formats.
It has a web server API that supports both blocking and non-blocking IO, allowing you to create routes, handlers, filters, and more.
Helidon offers a security API that supports authentication, authorization, auditing, identity propagation, etc. and integrates with popular providers.
Its metrics API supports HTTP endpoints for various metrics, including counters, gauges, histograms, and timers.
Helidon provides a health check API that allows you to define and register health checks and expose them via HTTP endpoints.
6. Micronaut
Micronaut is a modern JVM-based framework that offers a full-stack solution for creating modular, easily testable microservices and serverless applications. It uses compile-time dependency injection and aspect-oriented programming, which reduces runtime overhead and memory usage.
Micronaut supports both reactive and imperative programming styles. It also integrates easily with popular libraries and technologies like Netty, RxJava, and Kafka.
Key Features:
Full-Stack Solution: Ideal for microservices and serverless applications.
Compile-Time Dependency Injection: Reduces runtime overhead and memory footprint.
Programming Styles: Supports both reactive and imperative programming.
Library Integration: Works well with Netty, RxJava, and Kafka.
7. Spark
Spark is a microservices framework for creating web applications in Kotlin and Java. Inspired by the Sinatra framework in Ruby, Spark provides a simple and expressive DSL for defining routes, handlers, and filters.
Spark is lightweight and fast, without imposing any specific architecture or design pattern on your application.
Key Features:
Micro Framework: Designed for simplicity and speed.
Expressive DSL: Easy route and handler definitions inspired by Sinatra.
Lightweight: Minimal overhead and fast performance.
Flexible Architecture: No imposed design patterns or architectures.
8. Ratpack
Ratpack is a collection of Java libraries designed to build rapid, scalable, and modern web applications. Based on Netty, it promotes a non-blocking, reactive, and functional programming model.
Ratpack supports both imperative and reactive programming styles and integrates seamlessly with popular libraries and technologies like Guice, RxJava, and Groovy.
Key Features:
Non-Blocking and Reactive: Built on Netty for high performance.
Flexible Programming Styles: Supports both imperative and reactive approaches.
Library Integration: Works well with Guice, RxJava, and Groovy.
9. Javalin
Javalin is a lightweight and simple web framework designed for Java and Kotlin, inspired by Spark and Koa. It allows you to create routes, handlers, filters, and more using a straightforward and expressive DSL.
Javalin is fast and easy to use, and it doesn't impose any specific architecture or design pattern on your application.
Key Features:
Lightweight Framework: Designed for simplicity and speed.
Expressive DSL: Easy route, handler, and filter definitions inspired by Spark and Koa.
Fast and User-Friendly: Quick to set up and use.
Flexible Architecture: No imposed design patterns or architectures.
10. Lagom
Lagom is a reactive microservices framework designed for Java and Scala. Built on Akka and Play, Lagom offers a structured and opinionated approach to creating microservices.
Lagom focuses on four core principles: service API, service implementation, service discovery, and service consumption. This framework ensures that your microservices are designed to be reactive, scalable, and maintainable.
Key Features:
Reactive Framework: Designed to build reactive and resilient microservices.
Built on Akka and Play: Leverages robust libraries for performance and reliability.
Structured Approach: Focuses on service API, implementation, discovery, and consumption.
Java and Scala Support: Ideal for developers working with these languages.
11. Quarkus
Quarkus is a Java framework designed to work seamlessly with Kubernetes, allowing you to quickly develop microservices and serverless applications. The platform is engineered to optimize Java for cloud environments and containers, enabling you to reduce memory usage and startup time.
With Quarkus, you get both imperative and reactive programming styles, allowing you to work with popular libraries and technologies like Vert.x, Hibernate, and RESTEasy.
Key Features:
Kubernetes Integration: Works well with Kubernetes for microservices and serverless applications.
Optimized for Cloud: Reduces memory usage and startup time, making it ideal for cloud environments and containers.
Flexible Programming Styles: Supports both imperative and reactive programming.
Library Integration: Integrates with Vert.x, Hibernate, RESTEasy, and more.
12. Gin in Golang
Gin is a fast, simple, and lightweight web framework written in Go (Golang). Inspired by Martini, Gin offers a minimalistic approach to building web applications and microservices, making it easy to set up and use.
Gin provides a powerful routing system, allowing you to create routes, handlers, and middleware with ease. Its performance is one of its standout features, as it leverages the speed of Go to handle a high number of requests efficiently.
Key Features:
High Performance: Designed for speed and efficiency, making it ideal for high-traffic applications.
Simple and Lightweight: Easy to set up and use, with a minimalistic design.
Expressive Routing: Allows easy definition of routes, handlers, and middleware.
Middleware Support: Built-in support for middleware, making it extensible and customizable.
Conclusion: Which is the Right Microservices Framework for You?
Picking the best microservices framework depends on your unique needs. Start by considering the programming language you're most comfortable with or if you need a multilingual environment.
Focus on performance and scalability, opting for frameworks known for their efficiency and ability to handle high traffic. Also, prioritize the developer experience by choosing frameworks with intuitive APIs, good documentation, and active community support.
Finally, match the framework to the complexity and size of your project, ensuring it suits your microservices architecture.
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