While microservices vs. monolithic architecture is often debated, containers and microservices are quite different. A container is an executable package of software that includes all the necessary dependencies to function independently. Containers are isolated from other software pieces that surround them, and many containers can be deployed within the same environment. When working with microservices, each service is individually containerized under the same environment. For example, a virtual machine (VM) can replace containers to design and architect microservices. Each individual service could use a VM to host a specific feature. However, using VMs to host microservices isn’t exactly ideal.