In the world of enterprise software, some names have stayed strong for decades. C# and Java are two of those names. They shaped the way companies built applications. They gave us reliability, structure, and a deep ecosystem of tools and libraries. For a long time, they were simply the best choices for building serious systems. However, the ground of the world of software is a wobbly ground, does not stand still. We are now in an age where speed, simplicity, and flexibility matter more than ever. Cloud-native systems, containers, and microservices have changed the way we think about software. New problems need new solutions. And one of the languages rising to meet these needs is Go.
In this post, I will explain why companies using C# and Java may start thinking seriously about Go. Before I begin, I need to make an explanation. I need to state that I suggest this neither because there is something wrong with C# and Java; nor because Go is perfect. They have different capabilities and Go might be simpler and performant solution for more granulated architectures like microservices.
Why I Call C# and Java “Conventional”
C# and Java were built for the needs of a different era and they constantly evolve. They were designed when servers were big machines sitting in data centres. They were designed when applications were large, monolithic systems that lived for years without much change. They solved the problems of their era with care and depth. However these strengths also come with a cost. Java and C# depend on large runtimes like the JVM and .NET CLR. They need careful setup. Dependency injection, configuration management, and build pipelines are part of everyday life. All of this makes sense in big enterprise projects, but it also adds weight. It slows things down when you want to build small, fast-moving applications. That is why I call them conventional. They still work, are still powerful and versatile. However, they carry assumptions from a world that looked very different from today’s cloud-first, container-based world.
Go Is Simpler
Go was built with a different goal. It was designed to make it easy to build fast, reliable programs without needing a big runtime. It compiles directly to machine code. It does not need a virtual machine to sit between the program and the hardware. When you run a Go program, it starts almost instantly. It uses less memory. This is not just about performance, numbers and metrics. It changes how you build and ship software. In a cloud-native world, where you may spin up thousands of small services in containers, startup time and memory usage are critical. Go fits this world naturally. Java and C# can work in this world too, but they need more effort, tuning, and tools to get there.
Go also keeps things simple, the language itself is small, after all. However, I want to make a caveat here, being small doesn’t always mean that Go performs the best all the time. According to a benchmark by Piotr Kołaczkowski, under very heavy load, C# and Java manage memory more efficiently than Go. You can read the full details in this blog post.
Go Lets You Start Small
One of the biggest differences you feel when working with Go is how easy it is to get started. You do not need to set up a big project structure. You do not need to bring in a dependency injection framework. You do not need layers of configuration files before you can write your first line of business logic.
In Go, you can start with a single file. You can build a simple web server, a command-line tool, or even a microservice without touching any external libraries. The standard library gives you almost everything you need. If you want to add more later, you can. But you are not forced to set up a big system just to make something small.
In Java and C#, starting a new service often feels heavy. You have to decide how to structure your code. You have to pick your frameworks. You have to wire everything together, even for a simple feature. This makes sense for big applications, but it can slow you down when you are just trying to move fast.
Go removes this weight. It lets you focus on building something that works. You can keep things simple when the project is small, and grow carefully when needed. This fits perfectly with the way cloud-native and microservices architectures work today.
Built for Microservices, Docker, Kubernetes
Go is not just fast and simple. It is also built for the world we live in now. A world where applications are split into small services. A world where everything runs in containers. A world where scaling up means spinning up thousands of tiny instances across many machines.
Many of the tools that power this world are written in Go. Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform etc. This is not an accident. Go’s design fits this kind of system perfectly. It compiles to static binaries. It starts fast and uses memory carefully. It handles concurrency well, making it easy to write programs that deal with many tasks at the same time.
When you are building microservices, you want your services to be small, fast, and independent. You want your containers to be light and quick to deploy. You want your systems to scale out without adding a lot of management overhead. Go helps you do all of this naturally.
With Java and C#, you can also build microservices. You can run them in containers. But it often takes more effort. You have to think about runtime environments, startup times, memory tuning, and container image sizes. Go simplifies all of that. It lets you focus on solving business problems, not fighting with infrastructure.
Closing Thoughts
C# and Java are powerful languages. They have served the industry well for many years, and they will continue to do so. But the way we build software has changed. Cloud, containers, and microservices have introduced new challenges that need new solutions.
Go offers a way to meet these challenges. It brings speed, simplicity, and scalability together in a way that matches the needs of modern software development. It is not about replacing everything you have. It is about choosing the right tool for the future you want to build. If you are starting a new service, building for the cloud, or just looking for a way to move faster, it might be time to give Go a serious look.
Suleyman Cabir Ataman, PhD