Comparing Onion, Hexagonal, Clean, and Fractal Software Architectures: A Combined Evolutionary Approach

Summary

This article explores and compares four software architecture patterns—Onion, Hexagonal, Clean, and Fractal Architectures—focusing on how they manage dependencies. The author distills the essence of each approach, compares their advantages and challenges, and proposes a combined evolutionary approach that adapts to project needs over time. The article argues that simple layers and slices are insufficient, advocating for domain-driven modularization that improves understandability and changeability throughout the software's lifecycle.