Laravel website speed tips to boost performance, reduce load times, and deliver blazing-fast user experience with smart tweaks.
Table of Contents
Introduction to Laravel Speed
Fast websites matter. They help users stay longer and improve search rankings. Laravel is a great PHP framework, but it can be slow if not correctly configured. To boost your Laravel website speed, you need to fix slow parts and use innovative tools.
Laravel offers numerous built-in methods to enhance speed. This guide will show you straightforward steps to make your site faster.
What Slows Down Laravel Websites
Laravel apps can be slow for many reasons:
Too much middleware: Middleware checks every request. Too many make it slow.
Slow database queries: Laravel uses Eloquent for data. If not done right, it runs many queries.
Service providers: These load features. Too many can slow things down.
Too many packages: Adding lots of extras makes Laravel load more stuff.
Knowing these problems helps you fix them.
Check Your Site’s Speed
Before fixing anything, test your site’s speed. Use tools like:
Google Lighthouse
GTMetrix
Pingdom
Blackfire.io
Also, use Laravel commands to test:
Use php artisan to check Laravel performance.
Compare page load times.
Watch your server load.
Once you know what’s slow, you can start improving Laravel website speed.
Speed Up Composer and Providers
Laravel uses Composer to load code. You can speed this up by running:
composer install –optimize-autoloader –no-dev
Also, only load service providers when needed. Avoid loading all of them every time.
Use Route Caching
Laravel lets you cache routes. This makes routing faster. Run:
php artisan route: cache
php artisan route: clear
Don’t use closures in routes if you want to cache them.র্
Laravel can save views and config files for quick use. Run:
php artisan view: cache
php artisan config: cache
Make sure your .env file is final before caching.
Make Database Queries Better
Laravel’s Eloquent is simple but can be slow. Use eager loading instead of lazy loading. Add with() to your queries.
Also:
Add indexes to your tables.
Use Laravel’s query builder.
Test with Laravel Debugbar or Telescope.
Good database use gives a significant boost to Laravel website speed.
Move Tasks to Queues
Slow tasks like email or image processing should run in the background. Laravel uses queues for this.
Use Laravel Horizon to manage queues.
Tips:
Use Redis or SQS as drivers.
Adjust worker settings to fit your server.
Limit Middleware
Middleware can slow things down. To fix this:
Use middleware only on needed routes.
Group middleware by type.
Don’t use global middleware unless required.
Manage Assets with Laravel Mix
Laravel Mix helps shrink CSS and JavaScript. Run:
npm run production
Also use:
mix.version()
This helps with browser caching.
Use HTTP/2 and Gzip
HTTP/2 loads files faster. Gzip makes them smaller.
Enable Gzip on your server.
Use caching headers.
Laravel works well with these if your server supports them.
Use Redis for Caching
Laravel supports many cache types. Redis is fast and works well with Laravel.
Use Redis for:
Sessions
Config and route caches
Storing common query results
Make Images Smaller
Large images slow down pages. Fix this by:
Using Intervention Image to Shrink Uploads
Adding loading=”lazy” to images
Converting to WebP format
Clean Up Old Files
Old logs and backups take up space. Use Laravel’s scheduler to clean up.
php artisan schedule: work
Cleaning files keeps your app fast.
Use Good Hosting
A bad server can ruin a fast app. Good hosting is key.
Cloudways gives you:
Fast Laravel setup
Optimized servers (Apache, Nginx, Redis)
1-click Laravel installs
Tools to monitor speed
Using Cloudways makes it easy to boost speed without managing servers yourself.
Real Example: Speed Boost with Cloudways
A Laravel store had a 1.6-second load time. After moving to Cloudways and using the tips here, the load time dropped to 0.3 seconds. Pages loaded faster, and visitors stayed longer.
