Laravel Performance Optimization: Our Production Playbook
Practical performance optimization techniques we use across our Laravel applications — from database query optimization to caching strategies and queue management.
Dilnoza Karimova
CTO
N+1 Query Prevention
The most common performance issue we encounter in Laravel projects is the N+1 query problem. We use Laravel Debugbar in development and strict mode in Eloquent to catch these early. Always eager load relationships with with() when you know you will access them.
Strategic Caching
We implement multi-layer caching: application-level caching with Redis for expensive computations, query caching for frequently accessed data, and HTTP caching headers for static content. The key is invalidating caches intelligently rather than caching everything.
Queue Everything Heavy
Any operation that takes more than 200ms should be queued. Email sending, PDF generation, image processing, and third-party API calls all go through Laravel queues with proper retry logic and dead letter handling.
Database Optimization
We index strategically based on actual query patterns, use database-level pagination instead of collection pagination, and leverage database views for complex reporting queries. Regular EXPLAIN analysis of slow queries is part of our development workflow.