PrestaShop speed optimization tips

Here are practical & proven PrestaShop speed optimization tips, especially useful for Indian hosting + shared/VPS servers 🚀

🔹 1. Choose Fast Hosting (Most Important)

• Use LiteSpeed / NGINX instead of Apache if possible
• SSD / NVMe storage
• Minimum PHP memory: 256MB
• Recommended hosts:
  • Cloudways (DigitalOcean / Vultr)
  • Hostinger VPS
  • AWS Lightsail

👉 Avoid cheap shared hosting for large stores

🔹 2. Use Latest Stable PrestaShop Version

• Always use the latest stable version
• New versions include performance & security improvements
• PHP version: 8.1 or recommended by PrestaShop

🔹 3. Enable PrestaShop Performance Settings

Back Office → Advanced Parameters → Performance

Enable:
✔ Smart cache for CSS
✔ Smart cache for JavaScript
✔ CCC (Combine, Compress, Cache)
✔ Media servers (if using CDN)

Disable (in production):
❌ Debug mode
❌ Template compilation “Force”

🔹 4. Switch to Production Mode

Set:

• Compile templates → Never recompile
• Cache → Yes

⚠ Clear cache after changes

🔹 5. Use Full Page Cache (Very Powerful)

• Modules:
  • Page Cache Ultimate
  • JPresta Page Cache
• LiteSpeed users:
  • Use LiteSpeed Cache

👉 Can improve speed 3x–5x

🔹 6. Enable Redis or Memcached

If VPS available:

• Install Redis
• Enable Redis in:
  • app/config/parameters.php

Example:

'cache' => [
  'adapter' => 'cache.adapter.redis',
  'provider' => 'redis://127.0.0.1:6379'
]

Huge boost for large catalogs 🔥

🔹 7. Optimize Images

• Compress images (TinyPNG / ShortPixel)
• Regenerate thumbnails
• Use WebP images (PS 8+ supports better)

Modules:

• Image Optimizer
• WebP Image Converter

🔹 8. Use CDN (Cloudflare – FREE)

• Enable Cloudflare
• Turn ON:
  ✔ Brotli
  ✔ Auto Minify
  ✔ Cache static assets
• Enable Rocket Loader (test first)

Improves speed for global users 🌍

🔹 9. Reduce Modules (Very Important)

• Disable unused modules
• Avoid heavy sliders & page builders
• Check slow modules using Profiler

Rule:
👉 Fewer modules = faster site

🔹 10. Optimize Database

• Clean:
  • Cart rules
  • Old carts
  • Logs
• Modules:
  • Database Cleaner
• Optimize tables monthly

🔹 11. Optimize Theme

• Use lightweight themes
• Avoid:
  ❌ Multiple sliders
  ❌ Heavy JS animations
• Remove unused CSS/JS

🔹 12. Enable GZIP / Brotli Compression

Server-side:

AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/html text/css text/js

Or via Cloudflare (recommended)

🔹 13. Lazy Load Images & iFrames

• Enable lazy loading
• Improves First Contentful Paint (FCP)

🔹 14. Reduce TTFB (Time To First Byte)

• Use Redis
• Use PHP OPcache
• Good hosting = faster TTFB

🔹 15. Use OPcache (Must Have)

Enable OPcache:

opcache.enable=1
opcache.memory_consumption=256
opcache.max_accelerated_files=20000

🔹 16. Test Speed Properly

Use:

• Google PageSpeed Insights
• GTmetrix
• WebPageTest

Focus on:
✔ TTFB
✔ LCP
✔ CLS

🔥 Recommended Speed Stack (Best)

✅ VPS + NGINX / LiteSpeed
✅ PHP 8.1 + OPcache
✅ Redis
✅ Full Page Cache
✅ Cloudflare CDN