What is Scalability?

Scalability in system design refers to a system’s ability to handle increasing amounts of work or users without compromising performance. It involves designing a system so that it can easily accommodate growth in terms of data volume, user traffic, or processing demands without significant changes to its architecture.

Scalable systems can seamlessly expand by adding more resources or components, such as servers or databases, to distribute the workload efficiently.
This ensures that the system can continue to deliver high performance even as demands increase. Scalability is crucial for ensuring that a system remains responsive and reliable as it grows in size or usage.

Performance vs Scalability in System Design

Performance vs Scalability in System Design explores how systems balance speed (performance) and ability to handle growth (scalability). Imagine a race car (performance) and a bus (scalability). The car zooms quickly but can’t carry many passengers, while the bus carries lots but moves slower.

Similarly, in tech, a system may be super fast but crash with too many users (like the car), or handle many users but slow down (like the bus).
Designing systems requires finding the right balance that is, fast enough for current needs, yet flexible to grow with demand. This article breaks down how to achieve that balance.