Reducing Latency in Cloud-Native Applications with gRPC

Speed. This word means more today than ever before. We are used to applications responding instantly to commands. However, have you ever wondered what is behind that instant? Surprisingly, delays — the very milliseconds that no one thinks about — can be the cause of huge financial losses. For example, studies have shown that 40 percent of users will leave a website if it takes more than three seconds to load. That’s an impressive figure, especially when you consider that this loss of customers could cost a company millions of dollars. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg!

But what if we’re not just talking about a website, merely a complex ecosystem of cloud applications? Every microservice, every interaction between systems adds fractions of a second that accumulate into serious delays. Today, most cloud applications use REST for inter-service communication. It’s well established, but when it comes to speed and efficiency, REST starts to bog down. That’s where gRPC comes in — a tool that can reduce latency to a minimum, and with it, developer headaches. Below, we’ll talk about “what is gRPC?” as an answer to the problem of slow cloud applications. Medium knows more about gRPC in detail: Fundamentally and conceptually.

Why latency is not just a technical issue

At first glance, a 200-millisecond delay doesn’t seem like a big deal. But in reality, it could mean that a user decides to close your site before it loads. Now imagine: in a complex system with dozens of microservices, each delay adds up to become a tangible issue.

The REST API we’ve been using for so long is nice, but its time is running out. It’s all about HTTP 1.1 — this protocol was created in an era when the internet was slow and requests were simple. Today, it has become a bottleneck that slows down modern systems.

In contrast, gRPC uses HTTP/2, which gives it a lot of advantages, from request multiplexing to data compression. This means you can simultaneously send multiple requests over a single connection, and each one will be processed faster.

Let’s say your company is developing an online streaming application. Every time a user selects a video, data is exchanged between microservices. Using REST, these requests could create queues, reducing download speed. gRPC, on the other hand, allows them to be processed in parallel, reducing response time.

Real-world example

Take Netflix. They started using gRPC in their recommendation system. The result? A 30% reduction in response time. For users, this means instant recommendations, and for the company, happier customers and fewer costs.

What makes gRPC a real boon for DevOps

For DevOps tasks, system speed and stability are worth their weight in gold. Here, every delay can result in resource overruns or, worse, failures. gRPC is a tool that helps to minimise such risks. Bidirectional streaming makes it possible to exchange data in both directions without having to wait for the previous request to complete. And the ease of integration of gRPC libraries, which automatically generate code, speed up the project even at the development stage.

With gRPC, you can:

  1. Process real-time data (e.g., for system monitoring).
  2. Reduce the amount of data transferred through compression.
  3. Use streaming, allowing you to send and receive data at the same time.

Why it matters

Imagine a monitoring system that monitors the health of hundreds of servers. With REST, each request is handled individually, creating a queue. With gRPC, however, you can run processes in parallel, eliminating latency and speeding up data analysis.

Read more : The Importance of Progress Tracking in Online Learning Platforms

Example of work

For one of its customers, PFLB implemented gRPC for its log processing system. As a result, processing time was reduced by 40%, allowing the team to find and fix problems faster. This approach is best suited for a variety of industries, including banking, energy and retail.

Counterargument from a startup:

‘It sounds complicated and expensive!’ But is the opportunity cost less? In addition, the open source nature of gRPC makes it affordable even for small companies.

Savings that can be felt immediately

Cost optimisation is a key goal for any company. The higher the performance of systems, the fewer resources are required. The speed of applications directly affects the company’s budget. The longer the server runs, the more money you spend. And if delays increase, you’re forced to add new servers to compensate for the slowdown. But imagine that latency can be minimised, then why overpay? That’s where gRPC looks like a lifesaver. It allows you to optimise system performance while saving resources. This is especially important with the rising costs of cloud services.

A simple calculation: If your project saves 20% of network traffic, that means you can use fewer servers. Even for a small business, that’s hundreds of dollars a month that can be put toward growth. For larger companies, the savings can be many times greater. For example, a warehouse management system reduced infrastructure costs by 25% simply by implementing gRPC. Infrastructure savings are not just numbers in a report, but real money that can be channelled into business development.

Counterarguments: ‘I’m not sure my developers can handle gRPC.’ Solution: platforms such as PFLB already offer integration with gRPC, making the process much easier.

How to get started with gRPC

Adopting a new technology always raises a lot of questions. But with gRPC, the transition process turns out to be quite simple.

Here’s a step-by-step plan:

  1. Determine which services in your system need to be optimised.
  2. Familiarise yourself with gRPC libraries for your programming language.
  3. Start by testing on small projects to evaluate the benefits.
  4. Move to a large-scale implementation with community support and documentation.

Tip: Don’t try to migrate your entire system to gRPC all at once. A gradual transition will avoid failures and misunderstandings. How to get started with gRPC knows everything O’Reilly.

Conclusion

gRPC is not just another technology. It’s a step forward that allows businesses to move faster, save resources and be ready for new challenges. The great thing about gRPC is that it reduces latency by improving the user experience. This is the best that digital technology can do for DevOps teams looking for stability and productivity. As a result — saving money on infrastructure allows companies to invest in growth.

Want to learn more? Look for expert contacts in the field and start building the future of your business with gRPC today!


Similar Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *