Server requirements
PHP version, extensions, database and web-server requirements, and how to check them.
Minimum requirements#
| Requirement | Needed |
|---|---|
| PHP | 8.3 or newer |
| Database | MySQL 5.7+ or MariaDB 10.3+ (utf8mb4) |
| Web server | Apache with mod_rewrite (the package includes .htaccess files) or Nginx (example below) |
| HTTPS | Strongly recommended - required by most payment gateways, and by the PWA feature |
| Disk space | A few hundred MB for the application, plus room for your product images |
Required PHP extensions#
bcmath, ctype, curl, dom, fileinfo, gd, json, mbstring, openssl, pdo, pdo_mysql, tokenizer, xml, zip.
Recommended PHP settings#
| Setting | Recommended | Why |
|---|---|---|
memory_limit |
128M or more | Image processing and imports |
max_execution_time |
60 or more | Long imports |
upload_max_filesize and post_max_size |
16M or more | Product images and files |
allow_url_fopen |
On | Fetching exchange rates |
| OPcache | On | Much faster page loads |
exif, intl, GD with WebP |
Available | Phone photo rotation, locale formatting, WebP images |
Folders that must be writable by the web server: storage, storage/app, storage/framework, storage/logs, bootstrap/cache, public/uploads and the .env file.
Check your server before you start#
You do not have to check these by hand. The first two steps of the setup wizard (Requirements and Permissions) test everything above and show a green tick or a red cross for each item.
Fixing a red item
In cPanel open Select PHP Version (or MultiPHP Manager), choose PHP 8.3 or newer and tick the missing extensions. On a VPS install them with your package manager and restart PHP. Your hosting provider's support can do this for you in minutes.
Choosing hosting#
Any decent shared host, cloud VPS or managed PHP host that meets the table above will do. For a store with real traffic we recommend:
- PHP 8.3 with OPcache enabled.
- A host that lets you add a cron job (every minute) - see Cron job.
- SSH access is optional but handy for updates.
- A dedicated mail service (SMTP) for order e-mails instead of the host's built-in mail - see E-mail.