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What is PrestaShop 9?

The open-source "Anti-Shopify" for merchants who demand total ownership.

PrestaShop is one of the world's most robust open-source e-commerce platforms. While platforms like Shopify charge you monthly fees plus a percentage of your sales (the "Success Tax"), PrestaShop is 100% free to use and charges 0% transaction fees.

Version 9 is the latest evolution, fully embracing the Symfony framework. This makes it incredibly powerful and modular, but it also means it is no longer a lightweight script. It is an enterprise-grade application that demands enterprise-grade hardware.

⚠️ The "Slow Shop" Trap

In e-commerce, milliseconds equal money. Amazon found that every 100ms of latency cost them 1% in sales. If you host PrestaShop 9 on a cheap shared server or a generic VPS, you will face the Performance Wall.

Why DIY PrestaShop Hurts Sales

The hidden technical hurdles that kill conversion rates:

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Database Bottlenecks: PrestaShop makes hundreds of SQL queries per page load (Categories, Prices, Tax Rules, Cart Rules). On standard SSDs, this causes "White Screen" delays during checkout.
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Image Regeneration: When you upload a product photo, PrestaShop generates 5-10 resized versions. This spikes the CPU to 100%. If your server is weak, your admin panel freezes.
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Smarty Cache vs. Permissions: PrestaShop uses the Smarty template engine. If file permissions (`var/cache`) aren't perfectly configured, the cache breaks, and the site crashes with a 500 Error.
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The "Lost Order" Email: The worst nightmare. A customer pays, but the "Order Confirmation" email hits their Spam folder because your VPS IP has no reputation. They chargeback, and you lose the sale.

The "Memory Limit" Nightmare

You try to update a module or regenerate thumbnails, and suddenly your store goes offline:

# 1. Regenerating thumbnails for 500 products...
root@vps:~/store# php bin/console prestashop:image:regenerate

# 2. Processing...
Processing product 124... OK
Processing product 125... OK

# 3. The Crash
Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 134217728 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 20480 bytes)
Stack trace: #0 /var/www/classes/ImageManager.php(102): imagecreatefromjpeg()

root@vps:~/store# service php8.1-fpm restart
Error: Job for php8.1-fpm.service failed because the control process exited with error code.

While you fiddle with `php.ini` memory limits, your customers are buying from your competitor.

The Leapjuice Way

We built a stack specifically to handle the heavy database load of PrestaShop 9.

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Google C4D Processors: We use high-frequency compute that chews through PHP execution (Smarty/Symfony) 40% faster than standard cloud instances.
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Hyperdisk Database Storage: With 5,000 IOPS and 500MB/s throughput, your database queries happen instantly. Your "Add to Cart" button never lags.
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Transactional Email Solved: We route your order confirmations and tracking updates through SendGrid/Mailgun relays automatically.
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One-Click Deployment: We install the database, Nginx, PHP 8.1+, and SSL automatically. You just log in and start selling.
Deploy PrestaShop 9

Starts at $29/mo. Zero Transaction Fees. 100% Ownership.

Who is this for?

High-Volume Merchants: If you have 1,000+ products, you need the raw power of Google Cloud to keep your site fast.

Shopify Migrators: Tired of paying $300/mo in "App Fees"? Switch to PrestaShop on Leapjuice for a flat $59/mo and keep your profits.

Global Brands: Use our Global Load Balancers to serve customers in Europe, Asia, and the US with equal speed.