PHP & MySQL Performance Optimization

"The application is slow" almost always has a concrete cause – and it is rarely the one people suspect. A bigger server helps briefly, costs permanently and does not solve the problem. I measure first, then fix the bottlenecks with the biggest effect: in PHP code, database queries, caching and architecture.

Typical tasks

Slow database queries

Missing indexes, N+1 queries from the ORM, unfavourable joins, tables nobody cleans up: analysis with slow query log and EXPLAIN, then targeted fixes – often the biggest lever.

Imports and exports that take hours

Process product imports, stock reconciliation and exports in batches, reduce memory usage, parallelise and move them out of the request into background jobs.

Use caching properly

HTTP caching, application cache (Redis, Symfony Cache), Doctrine cache, precomputation of expensive results – where it pays off, without risking stale data.

Blocking external calls

External APIs that slow down every page view: timeouts, queues, asynchronous processing and fallbacks so that a slow provider does not paralyse your application.

PHP runtime and server configuration

OPcache, PHP-FPM settings, sessions, logging, Composer autoloader, current PHP version – basics that are often overlooked.

Load peaks and scaling

Campaigns, seasonal business, nightly processing runs: find bottlenecks before the rush, introduce queues and workers, run load tests.

Shopware environment

Custom plugins, integrations and extensions that slow the store down – measured and fixed without touching the store core.

How I work

1. Measure: Profiling (Blackfire, Xdebug, Symfony Profiler), database analysis, server load – with concrete numbers as the baseline.
2. Prioritise: The three to five measures with the biggest effect per effort, agreed with you.
3. Implement and re-measure: Each measure goes live individually and is measured. You get before/after figures, not gut feelings.