Speed Up your Laravel Website – Laravel Performance Optimization Tips
Since its inception in 2011, Laravel as a web development framework has gained tremendous attention. Equipped with tons of features, the framework facilitates the creation of web apps with ease. From enterprise applications to APIs and web services, Laravel is one framework that supports all.
Despite the above, there have been instances when developers questioned the credibility of the platform. Primarily because the framework experiences significant performance issues. In case you are among the developers or the leaders who are worried about the performance of Laravel applications, this article will interest you the most.
Considering the fact that there always lies room for optimization, we outline some of the best tips to fine-tune your web application and enhance its performance as a whole. Before that, you must first be clear on why should you optimize the website or why does the performance of a website matters.
Why Should you Need to Optimize Your Website?
Wondering why should you optimize the website? To be honest, when hosting your business through a website, speed is one thing that matters the most. Since there are tons of websites available over the web, with each offering similar solutions, a website with higher load time is often abandoned by the visitors.
According to a survey, visitors expect a page to load in 3 seconds. Nearly 57% of the visitors abandon websites that take more than 3 seconds to load. Besides, the overall search engine rankings of a website drop when the page performance isn't satisfactory. Hence, the need to optimize the website in an attempt to improve the speed and boost the overall performance.
Having said that above, we will now see the different ways to optimize the Laravel website.
Tips for Laravel Website Optimization
1. Config caching
One of the most popular commands offered by Laravel is the artisan config caching command. Executing this command in the interpreter will block the site. Meaning that whatever changes you make to the code, it doesn't affect the application as a whole. The syntax of the command goes:
php artisan config:cacheExperts consider this to be an excellent way to boost the overall performance of the website. In case you wish to rescind the command and retract all that it does, all you need to do is use the command:
php artisan config:clearThis refreshes the config, restoring the default settings.
2. Routes Caching
For Laravel web applications that have multiple routes and configurations throughout the code, route caching is one thing you must definitely try. As an out-of-the-box optimization feature, route caching helps speed up the response time of the website. The route cache is an array that accounts for the rapid loading of data. This in a way reduces the overall time, accelerating speed and improving Laravel Application’s performance.
The syntax used here is: php artisan route:cache. Similar to config caching, you can clear the cache by running the command: php artisan route:clear. An important thing to note here is that you must run the command every time a change is made to the route or the config files.
3. Classmap Optimization
For the uninitiated, Laravel tends to call one function from another. This creates a chain of calling functions disrupting the speed and performance of the application. A smart move here is to create a file that has the definition of all the sub files (that needs to be called). That is to say, declare all of the request files in a single file. The next time Laravel needs to call a function, only one file will be called. Loading a single file instead of multiple ones turn the entire application compact and reserved. Not to forget the impact it lays on the performance of the Laravel website.
The command you need to use here is:
php artisan optimize --force4. Removal of unused services
Services that lay without any use are the ones that not only occupy space but at the same time affect the speed of the web application. To do so, all you need to do is comment on the files that are not required. In simple terms, disable the files that are unused, thereby improving the app speed and performance.
5. Limit Libraries
Loading or importing tons of libraries ( both important and not necessary) only adds to the response time. Consider it this way, if an application requires a single library but imports two or more, the time taken to execute the same multiplies. This adds to the overall speed of the application, thereby hampering the app's performance.
While having tons of libraries definitely ease the development process, unnecessary importing reduces the app performance. Hence, you must assess all of them and see if there are libraries that are not required (you can run the application without them). If yes, remove them to speed up your app.
6. Restrict the use of a plugin
Similar to the libraries, you must also keep an eye on the plugins that are integrated with the application. The greater the number, the slower is the app. While adding dozens of features definitely make your app worthy, too much of it costs you in terms of speed and performance. Limit the plugins and use as much as important.
7. Opt for Eager Loading
Laravel has this unique ORM that helps map objects to your tables in the database. That is to say, it eliminates the need to manually enter data. However, there's a downside of the ORM feature as it uses lazy loading (mapping one object at a time). In order to boost the performance of the Laravel application, you need to switch to eager loading. This will allow you to load all of the objects in one go.
Conclusion:
Website performance is one of the deciding factors used by the visitors while surfing the web. Despite having a flawless website, poor performance could lead to higher bounce rates. Hence, the need to optimize the same and improve the performance to increase the conversion rate.