Cloud-Native
Software architecture designed for the cloud: microservices, containers, dynamic scaling and declarative APIs.
Cloud-native is more than running software in the cloud. It is a different way of building: applications are designed for the cloud from the start to use its benefits fully. Cloud-native applications are highly available, elastically scalable and easy to evolve through automation. The CNCF (Cloud Native Computing Foundation) defines the standards; Kubernetes is the foundation.
What is Cloud-Native?
Cloud-native means software designed from the start to run in the cloud. The CNCF emphasises four pillars: microservices (small, independent services instead of a monolith), containers (lightweight, portable runtimes), dynamic orchestration (Kubernetes for deployment and scaling) and declarative APIs (infrastructure as code). Cloud-native applications use elastic scaling, global distribution and managed services effectively and are resilient by design: single components can fail without taking down the whole system.
How does Cloud-Native work?
A cloud-native application is made of many small microservices, each in containers (Docker). Kubernetes orchestrates them: starts them, distributes load, scales on demand and replaces failed instances. Each service has its own database (database per service), communicates via APIs or events (e.g. Kafka) and is deployed via its own CI/CD pipeline. Service meshes (Istio, Linkerd) handle communication, encryption and observability. Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Pulumi) makes the whole setup versioned and reproducible.
Practical Examples
Netflix: Hundreds of microservices on AWS scale to millions of concurrent streams – a classic cloud-native example.
E-commerce platform: Product catalogue, cart, checkout, recommendations and search as separate microservices that scale independently.
Fintech startup: Payments, KYC and reporting as isolated services with their own databases and compliance.
IoT backend: Edge devices send data to an event streaming system (Kafka), which feeds microservices for analysis, alerting and storage.
Typical Use Cases
SaaS: Multi-tenant applications with elastic scaling and high availability
E-commerce: Shops that handle traffic spikes (Black Friday, flash sales) automatically
Financial services: Regulatorily isolated services with independent compliance and auditing
IoT platforms: Event-driven architectures for millions of device connections
Streaming and media: Global delivery with scaling based on user count
Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages
- Elastic scaling: Scale up and down with load automatically
- Resilience: Failure of one service does not take down the system
- Faster releases: Independent deployments per service enable continuous change
- Technology freedom: Each service can use the best language and database
- Portability: Container-based services run on any cloud and on-premise
Disadvantages
- Complexity: Distributed systems are inherently more complex (network, consistency, debugging)
- Overhead: Service discovery, load balancing, monitoring and tracing need extra infrastructure
- Cost: Kubernetes and managed services can be disproportionate for small apps
- Learning curve: Docker, Kubernetes, service meshes and observability need expertise
- Not for everything: For small teams and simple apps, a monolith is often better
Frequently Asked Questions about Cloud-Native
Do I have to build cloud-native?
What is the difference between cloud-native and cloud-ready?
Do I need Kubernetes for cloud-native?
Related Terms
Want to use Cloud-Native in your project?
We are happy to advise you on Cloud-Native and find the optimal solution for your requirements. Benefit from our experience across over 200 projects.