A configurator turns browsing into a conversation with the server. Nothing about that conversation can be cached, and every step of it renders an image.
A normal product page is one cacheable request. A configured product is dozens, each one different.
Every selection is a request that has to be computed. Those endpoints bypass the cache and carry their own rate limit, so one shopper exploring every combination cannot starve the storefront.
Compositing a preview per option change on the request path is the slowest thing a store can do. Images are generated in a background queue and cached at the edge by option signature.
Combination pricing is the same arithmetic repeated for every shopper who picks the same options, so the results are held in the object cache rather than recalculated.
A configured product that loses its options between cart and checkout becomes an order nobody can fulfil. The configuration is stored against the cart item, and the cart is never cached.
Layering several images at print resolution is a memory spike rather than a CPU one, and it is the limit configurator stores hit first.
The useful signal on a configurator store is which combinations get built and which get abandoned halfway, and that is not a page-view number.
Nobody configures a product once. The experience is judged on the tenth interaction, by which point a slow endpoint has been slow ten times.
These differ from a standard WooCommerce site on the same plan, and each follows from the product not existing until somebody builds it.
| Setting | What we do | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Configurator endpoints | Uncached and isolated with their own rate limit | Every option change is a distinct request, and caching them serves one shopper another shopper's build. |
| Preview images | Composited in a background queue and cached at the edge by option signature | Rendering a preview per option change on the request path is the single slowest thing a store of this shape can do. |
| Combination pricing | Computed server-side and memoised in the object cache | The same arithmetic is repeated for every shopper who selects the same options, which makes it the most repeated query on the site. |
| Cart | Never cached, with the full configuration stored against the line item | A configured product that loses its options between cart and checkout produces an order nobody can actually fulfil. |
| PHP memory limit | Raised specifically for the compositing workers | Layering several images at print resolution is a memory spike rather than a CPU one, and it is what these stores hit before anything else. |
Every plan includes free migration, daily backups, SSL and 24/7 support.
Free migration, previews built off the request path, and pricing computed once per combination.