Specialist service
WooCommerce performance engineering
A slow WooCommerce store is rarely fixed by another caching plugin. We measure where the time goes — PHP execution, database queries, external API calls, background jobs, the server — and fix the parts that actually cost time.
Typical problems
Performance problems we investigate
Slow checkout
Seconds between Place Order and the thank-you page.
Slow orders screen and admin
Order lists, reports and product edits that take seconds to load.
502 and 504 errors under load
PHP workers saturated by slow requests; timeouts between the web server and PHP-FPM.
Action Scheduler backlogs
Thousands of pending or failed actions: webhooks, emails and syncs running late.
Slow queries and bloated tables
Large meta tables, oversized autoloaded options, expired sessions, missing indexes.
WP-Cron not running reliably
Scheduled tasks that depend on visitor traffic, or pile up when traffic spikes.
How we measure
- Server-side timing of the slow requests, not just page-speed scores
- Slow query log and the queries behind the slow screens
- PHP-FPM status and slow log: worker usage, requests that block
- External HTTP calls made during page loads and checkout
- Object cache hit rate (Redis or Memcached) where available
- Action Scheduler queues, WP-Cron and other background work
What you receive
- A breakdown of where time is spent, before and after
- Prioritised fixes ranked by impact and risk
- Configuration changes and code fixes, implemented and documented
Measure before changing anything
Performance work that starts by installing plugins usually adds weight. The first step is to find which requests are slow and why: a product page waiting on a slow wp_postmeta query, a checkout blocked by a synchronous call to a shipping API, an admin screen counting thousands of orders, or PHP workers occupied by requests that never finish.
What we typically find
- Synchronous external calls during checkout or page loads: shipping rates, tax services, ERP lookups, licence checks.
- Background work in the foreground: tasks that should run through Action Scheduler running during a customer request.
- Database growth: large meta tables, expired sessions, oversized autoloaded options, logs stored in the database.
- Missing or misconfigured object cache, or a cache that is flushed too often to help.
- PHP-FPM sized for a brochure site: too few workers for WooCommerce traffic, or too many for the memory available.
Technical resources
Performance guides
- WooCommerce / Performance WooCommerce performance problems Slow checkout and admin, 502/504 errors, slow queries, Action Scheduler and WP-Cron backlogs.
- WooCommerce / HPOS WooCommerce HPOS: problems, migration and custom code What HPOS changes, why custom code breaks, and how to migrate order storage safely.
- WooCommerce / Integrations WooCommerce integration problems: REST API, webhooks and external systems REST API authentication, webhook deliveries, ERP/CRM syncs, timeouts and duplicated data.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Will a caching plugin fix a slow checkout?
No. Cart, checkout and account pages must not be page-cached, so their speed depends on PHP, the database and external calls. An object cache helps; page caching does not apply.
Do you change hosting?
Only when the measurements show the server is the bottleneck. Many slow stores are slowed down by a few expensive queries, synchronous API calls or background jobs, and moving them to bigger hosting only hides the cost.
Do you work on Core Web Vitals?
When they are affected by WooCommerce behaviour — cart fragments, heavy scripts on product pages, slow server responses — yes. Purely front-end design work is outside the scope.
$ describe the problem
Have a WooCommerce problem?Request a diagnosis.
Tell us what is failing, what changed recently and the business impact. We review every request and recommend the appropriate next step.
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