Laravel is a widely used PHP framework that is praised for its strong security measures and straightforward coding structure. It is ideal for creating modern web applications. However, the performance of Laravel can get slow if you don’t apply proper optimization methods.
Fortunately, there are several strategies available to improve the performance of Laravel.
We have compiled a list of 16 most effective methods for Laravel performance improvement that you can implement.
How to Measure Laravel Performance
Before optimizing Laravel, it’s important to measure its current performance. This helps you identify areas that need improvement. Several tools can help you with performance testing such as:
- Laravel Debugbar: This is a popular package that provides insights into your application’s performance, including queries and request times.
- Blackfire.io: A powerful profiling tool that helps you find performance bottlenecks by analyzing your code.
- Telescope: Laravel’s own tool for monitoring, providing detailed information on requests, database queries, and more.
- New Relic: A comprehensive performance monitoring service that gives you real-time data on your application’s health.
16 Methods of Laravel Performance Optimization
Here, we will discuss some great strategies that will help you to improve your laravel performance.
1. Route Caching
Route caching is a useful feature for apps with a lot of configurations and routes. It combines routes into one command to make your website load faster. Instead of starting from scratch for each new user, Laravel can retrieve routes from a pre-compiled cache.
To cache the routing data, use the command:
php artisan route:cacheRemember that the cache expires when the user leaves your site. After making changes to your website’s structure, such as routes files and configuration, run the route cache command to ensure the modifications take effect.
To clear the route cache, use the command:
php artisan route:clear2. Optimize Composer
Laravel uses a tool called Composer to manage different dependencies. When you install Composer initially, it adds dev dependencies to your system by default.
Dev dependencies are important for building a website. However, once your site is up and running, these are no longer needed and can actually slow down the site.
When using Composer to install packages, you can remove dev dependencies by using the following command with the --no-dev and -o parameters:
composer install --prefer-dist --no-dev -oThis command helps Composer optimize the autoloader and improve performance. It requests the official distribution to be retrieved and packaged without dev dependencies.
Make sure not to remove any runtime dependencies as this could harm your website’s performance or even cause it to crash.
3. Reduce Autoloaded Service
The main aim of Laravel is to make it easier for developers to create applications. When you start using Laravel, it automatically loads a lot of helpful tools from a file called config/app.php to help you begin your project quickly.
Although this is a useful feature, not all of these tools are necessary for building an application. For example, when creating a REST API, you do not need certain tools like the View Service Provider or Session Service Provider.
Many developers also choose to customize their framework settings instead of using the default ones. You can turn off tools that you do not need, such as the Pagination Service Provider, Translation Service Provider, and Auth Service Provider, to make your application run faster.
You can apply this same idea to other applications using Laravel to improve their speed. Just be careful not to remove any important tools and always double-check before making changes.
4. Use Artisan Commands and Cache Effectively
Artisan is a tool that comes with Laravel and is used through the command line. It helps developers with tasks that need to be done repeatedly or are complex by automating them. Website creators can also use Artisan to run tests and create commands.
Using Artisan commands effectively can improve the performance of your app. Here are some caching commands that you can use:
Configuration Caching:
The “cache config” command compiles all the configuration values of your application into one file, which helps the framework load faster. To use this command, run:
php artisan config:cacheNote that you should avoid running this command during local development because configuration settings may change frequently during app development. To clear the config cache, run:
php artisan config:clearViews Caching:
The view cache stores generated Blade templates to speed up your project. To manually compile all views and improve performance, use the following command:
php artisan view:cacheRemember to clear the view cache when you upload new code to prevent using old views. Run this command to clear the view cache:
php artisan view:clearApplication Caching:
This is the main cache in Laravel, storing all data that you manually cache in your app. Using Laravel’s cache can speed up frequently accessed data and optimize performance. If you use tags or multiple cache storage, you can clear specific elements of the cache. To clear the Laravel cache, use this command:
php artisan cache:clearNote that this command won’t delete route, config, or view caches located in the /bootstrap/cache/ folder.
5. Reduce Package Usage
In Laravel, a popular open-source framework with a large community, many new packages are regularly released or updated. These packages can be used in your application by adding them to the composer.json file, which Laravel will then install along with any necessary dependencies.
However, before adding a new package to your application, there are some important things to consider. Not all packages serve the same purpose, and some are designed for a wide range of functions.
Additionally, packages with many dependencies can increase the size of your application and potentially slow down its performance. Therefore, it is crucial to carefully review a package’s dependencies before incorporating it into your application.
6. Make Sure to Update Your Php to the Latest Version
Keeping your PHP up-to-date is important for security reasons. New releases of PHP come with security patches and bug fixes for two years. If you don’t upgrade to the latest version, your system could be at risk because older versions are no longer maintained.
Another reason to update your PHP is to improve performance. Older versions of PHP run slower over time. The current release of PHP has made improvements to boost efficiency, such as faster execution of requests, enums, fibers, and inheritance cache.
7. Use Queues
One way to make your Laravel app faster is by putting slow tasks into a queue job. This means these tasks can be done in the background later, like sending an email, instead of right away on the user interface. This can help your app handle online requests better.
Laravel offers different options for queue drivers, such as IronMQ, Redis, Amazon SQS, and Beanstalkd. It also has a built-in queue worker that you can start with the command:
php artisan make:job SendEmailAfter creating your job class, you can dispatch it by using the dispatch method within the job., you can use this code:
SendEmail::dispatch($Email);If you want to delay a job in the queue, like sending an email 10 minutes after a user creates an account, you can use this method with Carbon:
SendEmail::dispatch($Email)
->delay(now()->addMinutes(10));8. Use Lumen for Small Projects
Sometimes, when creating a small application like a mobile or Angular app, you may not need to use a big framework like Laravel. In these cases, you can try using Lumen instead.
Lumen is a simpler framework made by the same person who created Laravel. It’s like a faster and lighter version of Laravel, designed for building small services quickly. With Lumen, you don’t need to do a lot of setup or use complex routing when making web apps, which speeds up the development process.
For instance, Lumen can handle 100 requests in just one second. You can also add new features by including tools or packages from other developers. Additionally, Lumen works on all types of devices and can be easily upgraded to Laravel.
9. Leverage JIT Compiler
PHP is a type of language used on servers that needs interpreters to change the code into a simpler form that computers can understand.
This process can be slow and use up a lot of resources. To make things faster, programmers use scripting engines like the Zend engine, which can run certain tasks in C repeatedly whenever an application is used. This can make your app run slower.
To make things more efficient, developers use a just-in-time (JIT) compiler to do that task just once. HHVM, a popular JIT compiler made by Facebook, is the favorite among developers using Laravel. Websites like Etsy and Wikipedia also use it to make their sites run smoothly.
10. Make Use of Eager Loading
Laravel offers a tool called Eloquent that makes working with databases easier. Eloquent is an object relational mapper (ORM) that helps you connect tables and perform basic database functions like creating, reading, updating, and deleting records in PHP in a straightforward way.
When you fetch data from a database using Eloquent and then work with the relationships between different tables, the related data is loaded only when needed. This is known as “lazy loading”, where the data is fetched when you access the relationship.
With lazy loading, you may end up running more queries to get the desired information, which can slow down the process. This is shown in the example below:
$books = AppBook::all();
foreach ($books as $book) {
echo $book->author->name;
}To make Laravel run faster and fix the issue of N+1 query, you can use a technique called “eager loading” to preload the data.
$books = AppBook::with('author')->get();
foreach ($books as $book) {
echo $book->author->name;
}11. Compress Images
On average, a website takes about two seconds to load. Large images can slow down how quickly a site loads. If your website is slow, you could lose a lot of visitors.
To speed up your site, you can compress images to make them smaller without losing quality. Laravel supports integration with tools like TinyPNG, reSmush.it, and ImageMin to help with image compression.
12. Use a CDN
Utilizing a content delivery network (CDN) can significantly improve the speed of a Laravel website. Instead of retrieving static files directly from the hosting server, a CDN stores them on various cloud servers worldwide.
This means that even users far away from the website’s main location can access the site quickly because the CDN caches the most up-to-date version of the site on servers closer to them.
13. Minimize JS and CSS Code
This step of minification removes unnecessary code from your application, like extra spaces, notes, and renaming variables with shorter names.
14. Employ Asset Bundling
When creating apps with Laravel, you have to use Vite to bundle your app’s CSS and JavaScript files into assets ready for production.
Run the following command to install your app’s frontend dependencies:
npm installConfigure Vite:
import { defineConfig } from 'vite';
import laravel from 'laravel-vite-plugin';
export default defineConfig({
plugins: [
laravel([
'resources/css/app.css',
'resources/js/app.js',
]),
],
});15. Limit Included Libraries
Laravel lets you include many libraries in your application, which is great. However, adding too many libraries can slow down your app and impact how users interact with it. To prevent this, it’s important to check all the libraries currently being used in the code.
You can find these libraries in the config/app.php file. Remove any libraries that are no longer necessary. Also, it’s a good idea to check the composer.json file for any unnecessary dependencies.
16. Consider Using New Relic to Improve Laravel Performance
New Relic is a tool that helps developers improve the performance of their Laravel apps by analyzing and monitoring their stats in real-time. It can help you see how well your app is performing compared to others in the market and you can set up alerts based on your own standards.
Benefits of Laravel Performance Optimization
- Faster Load Times: Optimizing Laravel improves your app’s speed and provide users a quicker and smoother experience.
- Better User Experience: A faster, more responsive site keeps users engaged and reduces bounce rates.
- Improved SEO Rankings: Search engines favor fast-loading websites, helping your site rank higher in search results.
- Lower Server Costs: Efficiently running code uses fewer resources, reducing your hosting costs.
- Scalability: Optimized performance makes it easier to handle more users and traffic without slowing down.
- Increased Security: Optimization often involves updating dependencies and removing unnecessary code, which can reduce security risks.
- Higher Conversion Rates: A faster website can lead to more conversions, as users are more likely to complete actions like purchases or sign-ups.
Final Thoughts
Optimizing Laravel performance is essential for delivering a fast and responsive user experience. By implementing these 16 methods, you can significantly enhance your application’s efficiency and reliability. Remember, continuous monitoring and optimization are key to maintaining peak performance and speed of your laravel application.
FAQ:
Why Use Laravel?
Laravel is a popular php framework, that offers strong security features, and comes with built-in tools that make developing modern web applications faster and more efficient.
How to Test Laravel Website Performance?
You can test Laravel website speed and performance by using tools like Laravel Debugbar or Blackfire.io to check load times, database queries, and overall speed.
What Tools Can I Use for Monitoring Laravel Application Performance?
You can use tools like Laravel Debugbar, Blackfire.io, New Relic, or Laravel Telescope to monitor and analyze the performance of your Laravel application.
What is the Latest Version of PHP?
The latest version of PHP is 8.3, and it came out on November 23, 2023.
What is the Latest Laravel Version?
The latest version of Laravel is Laravel 11, it was released on March 12, 2024.
What is Laravel Mix?
Laravel Mix is a tool that simplifies the process of compiling and optimizing your web assets, like CSS and JavaScript, in a Laravel project. Laravel developers use laravel mix because it provides an easy-to-use API to work with modern frontend tools.
