Web performance consultant for Drupal
Optimize web performance on Drupal sites
Drupal powers demanding institutional and corporate sites. Its flexibility (Field API, Views, Layout Builder) also generates significant performance debt if not constrained. I work on Render API, page cache, Views and SQL queries to deliver green Core Web Vitals.
They trust me
Drupal symptoms calling for an audit
Drupal exhibits specific bottlenecks neither Lighthouse nor PageSpeed identifies without backend profiling.
🐢 Origin TTFB above 1 second on strategic pages
Misused Render API, cache contexts too fine or too broad, heavy hooks: Drupal recomputes HTML on every request. Without properly configured Dynamic Page Cache and BigPipe, TTFB easily exceeds 1 second.
🔍 Costly Views triggering hundreds of SQL queries
A View with relations, field formatters and poorly designed filters can generate 500 queries per page. Views optimization (pagination, contextual filters, denormalization) is one of the most rewarding levers.
📚 Entity references multiplying queries
Referencing one entity isn't a problem, referencing 5 on a page with sub-references multiplies queries in cascade. Profiling exposes the pattern, refactoring follows.
⚙️ Hooks and listeners running on every request
hook_node_load(), hook_entity_view(), Symfony event subscribers: every active listener runs everywhere. XHProf or Blackfire profiling identifies the heavy ones and allows conditioning or removal.
🖼️ Image styles not AVIF, no fetchpriority on LCP
Drupal Image styles don't generate AVIF by default. The Responsive Image module and integration with ImageMagick or an external service (Cloudinary, Imgix) solves the problem — paired with LCP image preload.
🧱 Layout Builder or Paragraphs over-layering rendering
Layout Builder enables a lot but adds a computation layer to every view. Without properly placed cache fragments, every section gets recomputed. The flexibility / cost ratio gets measured and arbitrated.
Drupal optimization methodology
4 steps to transform your performance
1. XHProf or Blackfire backend profiling
Identify functions, hooks and services weighing on performance. Surface entity reference cascades and costly Views.
2. Render API and cache optimization
Audit cache contexts, cache tags, cache max-age. Activate Dynamic Page Cache, BigPipe, configure Internal Page Cache for anonymous traffic.
3. Views and SQL query rework
Views optimization (pagination, eager loading, exclude useless fields), SQL index addition, heavy hook refactoring.
4. CDN + Varnish + monitoring
Varnish integration for anonymous full page caching, CDN configuration (Akamai, Cloudflare, Fastly). Continuous Core Web Vitals monitoring setup.
1. XHProf or Blackfire backend profiling
Identify functions, hooks and services weighing on performance. Surface entity reference cascades and costly Views.
2. Render API and cache optimization
Audit cache contexts, cache tags, cache max-age. Activate Dynamic Page Cache, BigPipe, configure Internal Page Cache for anonymous traffic.
3. Views and SQL query rework
Views optimization (pagination, eager loading, exclude useless fields), SQL index addition, heavy hook refactoring.
4. CDN + Varnish + monitoring
Varnish integration for anonymous full page caching, CDN configuration (Akamai, Cloudflare, Fastly). Continuous Core Web Vitals monitoring setup.
Mission commitments
Frequently asked questions
Is Drupal slower than WordPress?
Should you go headless Drupal?
Drupal 7, 9, 10, 11: do optimizations differ?
How are your Drupal engagements structured?
Optimize your Drupal for stable Core Web Vitals
Data 2023-2026
What my clients say
Excellent work.
Paul has significantly improved the site's speed and perfectly aligned it with Google's recommendations.
Professional, thorough, and efficient, I highly recommend.
Nicolas - April Moto
Digital & E-commerce Director
We are very satisfied with Paul's work. He is quick, available, and particularly effective. Since his arrival, very good results have been observed, both in terms of performance and responsiveness. A real asset for our team.
Léo - Luxury brand
E-commerce Product Owner
I don't know if we've said it enough.
But if you want to improve your loading speed,
Make Google happy and get your Core Web Vitals in the green,
Contact Paul Delcloy.
Florian Darroman - Les Makers
Co-founder
Drupal, flexible power with latent performance debt
Drupal powers a significant share of institutional, government and enterprise sites in France and Europe. Its native flexibility (Field API, Views, Layout Builder, Paragraphs) lets you model any business domain — and opens a wide door to performance debt. An article page with 30 fields, 5 entity references and 3 nested Views can trigger 200 to 500 SQL queries per render.
The web performance optimization angle on Drupal is fundamentally architectural: mastery of Render API and cache contexts, correct activation of Dynamic Page Cache and BigPipe, costly Views rework, hook and entity reference profiling. Standard tools like Lighthouse or PageSpeed fall short — you need to profile with XHProf or Blackfire to identify where Drupal spends its time.
Render API and cache contexts, the core topic
Well-used, the Drupal cache system is one of the most powerful in any CMS. Cache tags for surgical invalidation, cache contexts for variability (user, route, query), cache bins for storage strategy. Poorly used, you cache too broadly (mass invalidations) or too strictly (systematic cache miss). Direct consequence: TTFB drifting between 300ms and 2 seconds depending on cache luck.
On a Drupal mission, I start by mapping Render API calls on LCP-critical templates, identify misplaced cache contexts, rationalize Views with their own caches, and set up Dynamic Page Cache + BigPipe properly configured.
Modern stack: Drupal 10/11 + Varnish + CDN
On enterprise missions, Drupal always sits in a broader stack: Varnish frontal for anonymous full page caching, CDN for delivery (Akamai, Cloudflare, Fastly), Solr or Elasticsearch for search, Redis for object cache. Each layer can be a lever or a bottleneck depending on configuration. A Drupal webperf mission covers the whole, not just application code.
Other expertise Technologies
Angular
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Astro
Astro optimized: islands architecture, image optimization, view transitions, content collections. Near-static sites with green Core Web Vitals.
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Laravel
Laravel optimized: Eloquent N+1, opcache + JIT, Octane, Redis cache, async queues, MySQL tuning. Dropped TTFB and green Core Web Vitals.
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