WooCommerce — Performance Tips and Common Issues

WooCommerce stores require more server resources than a standard blog. This article covers the most common performance and configuration issues and how to resolve them.

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Increase PHP memory limit

WooCommerce with many products, orders, or extensions frequently exhausts the default PHP memory limit. If you see a white screen or a "Fatal error: Allowed memory size exhausted" message:

1. Go to cPanel → Software → MultiPHP INI Editor.
2. Select your domain.
3. Set memory_limit to 256M or 512M.
4. Click Apply.

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Enable object caching

WooCommerce makes frequent database queries. Object caching reduces these by storing query results in memory:

• Install a caching plugin such as W3 Total Cache or LiteSpeed Cache (if your server uses LiteSpeed).
• Enable object cache in the plugin settings.
• WooCommerce cart and checkout pages must not be served from full-page cache — add them to your cache exclusion list. WooCommerce does this automatically for most cache plugins.

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Optimise the database

WooCommerce stores order data, sessions, and logs in your database. Over time these grow large and slow queries down:

• Go to WooCommerce → Status → Tools.
• Run Clear WooCommerce sessions to remove expired guest sessions.
• Run Clean up post revisions to remove old product revisions.
• Consider a plugin like WP-Optimize for regular automated database cleanup.

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Common issues and fixes

• Checkout page shows 404 — go to WordPress → Settings → Permalinks and click Save Changes to regenerate rewrite rules.
• Products not displaying — clear your cache plugin cache. Also check WooCommerce → Settings → Products → Display.
• Payment gateway not appearing at checkout — ensure SSL is active on your checkout page. Most payment gateways require HTTPS. Force HTTPS via .htaccess (see: How to Force HTTPS on Your Website).
• Emails not sending — WooCommerce uses WordPress's wp_mail function. Test with a plugin like WP Mail SMTP and configure an SMTP server. See: Why Are My Emails Being Blocked.
• "Sorry, no products were found" on shop page — the shop page setting may be wrong. Go to WooCommerce → Settings → Pages and verify the correct page is assigned to Shop.

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WooCommerce and Cloudflare

If you use Cloudflare, add the following to your cache bypass rules:

• Cart page (/cart/*)
• Checkout page (/checkout/*)
• My Account page (/my-account/*)

Serving these pages from Cloudflare cache causes cart and session issues. See: How to Set Up Cloudflare for Your Website.

Updated on: 28/04/2026