Laravel Performance: From 200ms to 50ms Response Times

Laravel Performance: From 200ms to 50ms Response Times

Performance is everything in backend development. Here’s how I optimized a Laravel application to achieve 75% faster response times through strategic optimizations.

The Problem

The application was experiencing:

• 200ms average API response times
• Database queries taking 80ms+
• Memory usage spikes during peak hours
• Slow queue processing

The Solution Stack

1. Database Optimization

// Before: N+1 Query Problem
$users = User::all();
foreach($users as $user) {
    echo $user->profile->name; // N+1 queries
}

// After: Eager Loading
$users = User::with('profile')->get();
foreach($users as $user) {
    echo $user->profile->name; // 2 queries total
}

2. Redis Caching Strategy

class UserService 
{
    public function getUserProfile($id)
    {
        return Cache::tags(['users'])->remember("user.{$id}", 3600, function() use ($id) {
            return User::with(['profile', 'permissions'])->find($id);
        });
    }
}

3. Queue Optimization

// High-priority queue for critical operations
php artisan queue:work --queue=critical,high,default --timeout=60

Results

• 50ms average response time (75% improvement)
• 90% reduction in database queries
• 60% lower memory usage
• Zero timeout errors

Performance isn’t luck—it’s engineering discipline applied ruthlessly.