You picked Shopify partly so that speed would be somebody else’s problem. Then a customer tells you the product pages take an age to open on their phone, PageSpeed Insights shows a lot of orange and red, and the apps list has grown to include reviews, a currency converter, an upsell popup, a size chart, a WhatsApp button, an Instagram feed and a few you tried for a week and removed. If Shopify “handles all the hosting”, why is your Shopify store slow at all?
The confusion is understandable. Shopify does run the servers, and on a self-hosted WordPress store that is often where problems start. But most of what makes a Shopify store slow sits on top of the platform, in the parts you choose: the theme, the apps, the images and the scripts. Below, what Shopify controls is separated from what you control, followed by where leftover app code hides and a careful way to test changes.
What Shopify controls
Shopify provides the hosting, the servers, the content delivery network that serves your files around the world, the SSL certificate and the checkout. You do not choose a server, install a caching plugin or tune a database, and you cannot. For a small store that is a real advantage: the parts that most often go wrong on self-hosted stores are looked after for you.
It also means some familiar speed advice does not apply. There is no caching plugin to install, no PHP version to update and no hosting plan to upgrade for speed. If someone selling a Shopify speed service talks mainly about hosting, they are describing a different platform. Choosing a Shopify plan is mainly a decision about features and fees, not a speed setting.
The checkout is also Shopify’s. You can change its branding and some of its contents, but how fast it loads is largely outside your hands, which is one less thing to worry about.
What you control
Everything you put on top of the platform affects speed, and this is where nearly all slowness on established stores comes from.
- The theme. Some themes are built lean; others ship with many features that load whether you use them or not, such as animations, mega menus with images, quick-view windows and several sliders. Theme code customised by a developer can also add weight. If you are choosing a theme, free versus paid Shopify themes covers what to look at, and speed is worth adding to that list.
- Apps. Many apps add scripts and styles to your storefront: reviews, upsells, popups, chat, loyalty, currency conversion, size charts, wishlists, store locators, social feeds. Each one adds work for the visitor’s browser, and some load on every page even if they are only used on one.
- Images and video. Product photos, banners and homepage videos are often the heaviest items on a page.
- Tracking and marketing scripts. Pixels, analytics, tag managers and heatmap tools all add requests to other servers.
- Page content. A homepage with twelve sections, a collection page showing a large number of products at once, or products with many variants and large galleries are all heavier than they need to be.
Shopify store slow? Apps are usually the first suspect
Apps are the most common reason a Shopify store gets slower over time, because they accumulate. Each app was installed for a good reason, and few stores review them afterwards. Ask of each one:
- Is it still being used, and does someone look at its results?
- Does it load on pages where it is not needed?
- Does another app, or the theme itself, already do the same job?
Reviews and upsell apps are worth keeping if they earn their place, but two reviews apps, or a popup app and a theme popup both active, are common. Our post on Shopify apps worth paying for is a useful lens for deciding which ones justify their cost, in speed as well as money.
App leftovers in theme code
Removing an app does not always remove all of its code. Apps built in the newer way add their features through app blocks and app embeds, which you can see and switch off in the theme editor, and these are designed to disappear when you uninstall the app. Older apps, and some current ones, insert code directly into theme files instead. When they are uninstalled, that code can stay behind, still loading scripts from a service you no longer use, or failing quietly.
Signs of leftovers include a badge or button from an app you removed, errors in the browser console mentioning an app’s name, or requests in the network panel to domains belonging to an app you no longer have. In the theme code editor, leftovers usually appear as snippet files named after the app, or lines in the main layout file that render those snippets. Removing them is not difficult, but it is easy to delete the wrong line, so work on a duplicate of your theme, not the live one. Checking for leftovers belongs in a regular routine; Shopify store maintenance has a calendar that includes it.
How to speed up a Shopify store, in order
Work from the cheapest, safest changes upward.
1. Remove apps you do not need
Uninstall them properly, then check the theme for leftovers as above. This is often the biggest single improvement.
2. Switch off app embeds on pages where they are not needed
In the theme editor, look at the app embeds section. Some apps can be limited to certain templates, or turned off where they are not used.
3. Trim the homepage
Remove sections nobody uses, replace sliders with a single strong banner, and think twice about autoplaying video. An Instagram feed on the homepage is a common heavy item that few visitors interact with.
4. Upload images sensibly
Shopify can serve resized versions of your images, but only as well as the theme asks for them, and very large originals still cost time somewhere. Upload images at a reasonable size, compressed, and keep product galleries to the photos that help someone buy.
5. Review tracking scripts
List the pixels and tags on the store and remove any you no longer use or that are installed twice, for example once through an app and once in theme code.
6. Consider the theme
If the store is still slow after the steps above, the theme may be the limit. Changing themes is a bigger project, with layout and app compatibility to check, so treat it as the last step, not the first.
Testing changes safely
Shopify lets you duplicate a theme and preview it before publishing. Use that for anything that involves editing code or removing sections. A sensible routine:
- Before changing anything, test three pages with PageSpeed Insights: the homepage, a busy collection page and a typical product page. Run each test a few times and note the results with the date.
- Duplicate the live theme, make changes on the copy, preview it, and check that products, variants, cart and any app features still work.
- Publish during a quiet period, then repeat the same tests on the same pages.
- Place a test order or go as far through checkout as you safely can.
Shopify’s analytics may also include a web performance report based on real visitor data. Where it is available, it is a useful companion to PageSpeed Insights over the following weeks. For how these numbers fit into a wider picture, see our page speed guide, and for why the effort matters to the business, whether site speed affects sales.
Shopify’s own help centre at help.shopify.com documents the theme editor, theme duplication and app management if you need the exact menus for your store.
Frequently asked questions
Will upgrading my Shopify plan make my store faster?
Not in the way upgrading hosting can help a self-hosted site. Shopify runs the infrastructure for every store, and choosing a different plan is mainly about features and fees. If your store is slow, look at apps, theme, images and scripts first, because that is where the difference usually lies.
How do I know which app is slowing my store down?
Open a slow page with your browser’s developer tools on the network tab and look at which domains the largest and slowest requests come from; many belong to identifiable apps. You can also test on a duplicate theme with an app embed switched off and compare the results.
Is it safe to delete code from my Shopify theme myself?
It is safest on a duplicate theme, never the live one. Make one change at a time, preview the store and check product pages, cart and app features before publishing. If you are unsure what a line of code does, ask the app developer or a Shopify developer before removing it.
Does the number of products affect Shopify store speed?
The size of the catalogue matters less than how pages present it. A collection page showing many products at once, products with large galleries or many variants, and filters that load lots of data can all be slow. Showing fewer products per page and keeping galleries focused usually helps.
Apps tidied, images trimmed, and the theme still looks like the limit? Our Shopify website development page describes the store setup and theme customisation work we take on for Shopify.
Next in this series: Wix Website Slow? Fixes for Wix and Squarespace Sites
