Optimizing PrestaShop Performance for Speed

A fast webshop is essential for success. Every second of delay costs you visitors and revenue. Google uses speed as a ranking factor, and customers expect pages to load within 3 seconds. Learn how to optimize your PrestaShop webshop for maximum speed.

Why Speed is Important

The impact of load time:

  • 1 second delay reduces conversion by 7%
  • 40% of visitors leave a site that takes longer than 3 seconds to load
  • Google ranks fast sites higher
  • Mobile users are particularly sensitive to slowness
  • Speed increases customer satisfaction

Measuring Speed

Google PageSpeed Insights

  1. Go to pagespeed.web.dev
  2. Enter your shop URL
  3. View scores for mobile and desktop
  4. Analyze the recommendations

GTmetrix

  1. Go to gtmetrix.com
  2. Test your URL
  3. View detailed waterfalls
  4. Compare with previous tests

Core Web Vitals

Focus on these metrics:

  • LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): Under 2.5 seconds
  • FID (First Input Delay): Under 100 milliseconds
  • CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): Under 0.1

Enabling Caching

Smarty Cache

  1. Go to Advanced Parameters and select Performance
  2. Set Template caching to Yes
  3. Select Recompile templates if modified
  4. Click Save

CCC (Combine, Compress, Cache)

  1. Stay in Performance settings
  2. Enable:
    • Merge CSS files
    • Compress CSS files
    • Merge JavaScript files
    • Compress JavaScript files
  3. Test after enabling to ensure everything works

Clearing Cache

Clear cache after changes:

  1. Go to Performance
  2. Click Clear Cache
  3. Or use the button in the top bar

Server Caching

LiteSpeed Cache

If you use Theory7 hosting with LiteSpeed:

  1. Install the LSCache module for PrestaShop
  2. Configure cache rules
  3. Pages are cached at the server level

OPcache

Ensure PHP OPcache is active:

  1. Check via DirectAdmin PHP settings
  2. OPcache must be enabled
  3. Significantly increases PHP output speed

Redis or Memcached

For large shops:

  1. Request Redis or Memcached from support
  2. Configure in PrestaShop
  3. Sessions and cache in memory

Optimizing Images

Image Formats

  1. Go to Design and select Image Settings
  2. Check the configured formats
  3. Remove unused formats
  4. Regenerate images if necessary

WebP Format

Modern browsers support WebP:

  1. Install a WebP module
  2. Images are automatically converted
  3. Up to 30% smaller files

Lazy Loading

Load images only when needed:

  1. Activate lazy loading in your theme
  2. Or install a lazy loading module
  3. Pages load faster initially

Compressing Images

  1. Compress images before upload
  2. Use tools like TinyPNG or Squoosh
  3. Keep quality above 80%

Optimizing the Database

Cleaning Logs

Remove old logs:

  1. Go to Advanced Parameters and select Logs
  2. Remove old entries
  3. Set up automatic cleaning

Optimizing Database Tables

  1. Log in to phpMyAdmin
  2. Select your PrestaShop database
  3. Select all tables
  4. Choose Optimize table

Rebuilding Search Index

  1. Go to Configure and select Search
  2. Click Rebuild Index
  3. Improves search performance

Optimizing Modules

Disabling Unnecessary Modules

Every active module slows down:

  1. Go to Module Manager
  2. Identify unused modules
  3. Deactivate what you don’t need
  4. Consider removing

Module Quality

Choose modules carefully:

  • Check reviews
  • Choose well-maintained modules
  • Avoid heavy modules for simple functions

Module Conflicts

Some modules conflict:

  1. Test after each new module installation
  2. Check load times
  3. Deactivate problematic modules

Optimizing PHP

PHP Version

Newer PHP versions are faster:

  1. Go to DirectAdmin
  2. Select PHP settings
  3. Upgrade to PHP 8.0 or 8.1
  4. Thoroughly test your shop after the upgrade

PHP Memory

Increase PHP memory if necessary:

  1. Go to PHP settings
  2. Set memory_limit to at least 256MB
  3. For large catalogs, 512MB or more

PHP Settings

Optimal values:

  • max_execution_time: 300
  • max_input_vars: 5000
  • post_max_size: 64M
  • upload_max_filesize: 64M

Frontend Optimization

Using HTTP/2

  1. Check if your hosting supports HTTP/2
  2. Theory7 hosting offers this by default
  3. Faster parallel downloads

Using a CDN

Content Delivery Network:

  1. Consider Cloudflare (free tier available)
  2. Images and assets are cached globally
  3. Faster delivery to visitors

Critical CSS

  1. Load only necessary CSS first
  2. Defer other stylesheets
  3. Improves perceived performance

Hosting Considerations

SSD Storage

Choose hosting with SSD:

  • Up to 10x faster than HDD
  • Standard with Theory7 hosting
  • Essential for database operations

Server Location

Choose a server close to your customers:

  • Dutch data center for NL customers
  • Reduces latency
  • Faster first byte

Monitoring

Regular Testing

  1. Test monthly with PageSpeed
  2. Monitor Core Web Vitals in Search Console
  3. Keep an eye on trend lines

Setting Alerts

  1. Use uptime monitoring
  2. Receive alerts for slow responses
  3. Respond quickly to issues

Need Help?

We are here for you! Are you facing any issues or do you have questions? Our support team is happy to assist you personally. Send us a message via the ticket system - we usually respond within a few hours and are happy to help.