Migration Strategies from Monolithic Applications to Cloud-Native Applications: A Systematic Review

Cloud computing is an emerging technology that enables on-demand software deployment and the use of suitable infrastructure for native applications. In this context, cloud-native architectures have emerged as a promising alternative to monolithic applications, facilitating the sustainable growth of organizations. This paper presents a systematic review aimed at providing a comprehensive overview of the state of the art, current trends, and future research opportunities regarding strategies for migrating monolithic applications to cloud-native architectures. The review covers 41 relevant studies, which have been analyzed according to the key phases of the migration process: planning, evaluation, refactoring, transition, and integration into cloud-native environments. Among the most significant findings, microservice-based architectures and cloud-oriented design patterns are the most studied topics, accounting for approximately 73 % of the analyzed papers. Additionally, the review identifies approaches such as decision-making frameworks, refactoring of monolithic code, application of Model-Driven Engineering (MDE), reduction of technical debt, and use of orchestration tools.