QAFlow runs well out of the box. These optimizations help when you scale past 1,000+ active users or 100k+ questions.

1. Enable OPcache

Huge performance win. cPanel → Select PHP Version → Extensions → tick opcache.

Then in php.ini:

opcache.enable=1
opcache.memory_consumption=128
opcache.max_accelerated_files=4000
opcache.validate_timestamps=0
opcache.revalidate_freq=60

Restart PHP / wait 5 minutes, first page load will be slow, subsequent loads are 2-5x faster.

2. Enable Redis Cache

QAFlow auto-detects Redis if available. Install via cPanel PHP Extensions, then:

1. Admin → Settings → Advanced → Cache Driver → select Redis
2. Host: 127.0.0.1, Port: 6379, Password: blank (unless set)
3. Save → automatic

3. Use a CDN for Static Assets

Cloudflare free plan is the easiest:

1. Sign up at cloudflare.com, add your domain
2. Switch your domain nameservers to Cloudflare's
3. In Cloudflare dashboard → Speed → Optimization → enable Auto Minify (HTML, CSS, JS)
4. Enable Brotli compression
5. Set Browser Cache TTL to 1 month

4. Database Optimization

Run monthly in cPanel → phpMyAdmin:

OPTIMIZE TABLE questions, answers, users, notifications;

QAFlow's cron job does this automatically if your cron is set up (see Post-Install Checklist).

5. Image Optimization

• QAFlow auto-resizes user uploads to max 1200px wide
• Enable Admin → Settings → Images → WebP conversion — serves WebP to supported browsers (smaller, faster)
• For existing images: Admin → Tools → Regenerate Thumbnails

6. Lazy-Load Images

Enabled by default on all question cards, blog cards, and user avatars. Verify in Admin → Settings → Performance → "Lazy load images" is on.

Benchmarks

On a standard Hostinger Premium plan ($3/mo), QAFlow handles:

• ~50 concurrent users comfortably
• ~500 page views per minute
• ~5,000 daily active users

Past that, upgrade to a VPS ($10/mo at Hostinger or DigitalOcean) — handles 10x more.