Laravel Octane + RoadRunner: The Ultimate Duo for High-Speed Performance

Introduction

In modern web applications, speed and efficiency are paramount. Laravel, one of the most popular PHP frameworks, is traditionally served using PHP-FPM and Nginx. However, for high-performance applications that demand low latency and lightning-fast execution, Laravel Octane and RoadRunner step in as a game-changing duo. This combination allows your Laravel application to run persistently in memory, significantly reducing execution overhead.

In this blog, we’ll explore how Laravel Octane and RoadRunner work together, why they’re the ultimate duo for performance, and how you can supercharge your Laravel apps with this setup.

Why Laravel Octane?

Laravel Octane boosts the speed of your application by keeping it in memory, reducing boot-up time and improving request handling. Traditional PHP applications start and stop on each request, leading to inefficiencies. Octane, however, keeps workers alive, allowing them to process multiple requests efficiently.

Key Features of Octane:

• Supports Swoole & RoadRunner: Offers different high-performance servers.
• Optimized Request Handling: Speeds up route handling, middleware, and database queries.

What Makes RoadRunner Special?

RoadRunner is a Go-based PHP application server that replaces PHP-FPM, providing a more efficient way to serve Laravel applications. It manages PHP workers efficiently, reducing CPU overhead and improving response time.

Key Features of RoadRunner:

• Performance Boost: Multi-threading via Go increases request processing speed.
• Process Management: Runs PHP applications as persistent workers.
• Extensibility: Supports gRPC, HTTP, WebSockets, Queues, and more.
• Cross-Platform: Works on macOS, Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, and ARM.

Together, Laravel Octane and RoadRunner offer unmatched performance for web applications, making them ideal for real-time applications, high-traffic websites, and API-heavy services.

Setting Up Laravel Octane with RoadRunner

Let’s break down the installation process for integrating Laravel Octane with RoadRunner.

1. Install Octane

First, add Laravel Octane to your Laravel project:

composer require laravel/octane

Then, install Octane:

php artisan octane:install

2. Install RoadRunner

Download RoadRunner using the following command:

composer require spiral/roadrunner

You also need the rr binary, which can be installed manually:

curl -L https://github.com/roadrunner-server/roadrunner/releases/latest/download/roadrunner_linux_amd64 -o rr
chmod +x rr

(Modify for macOS or Windows accordingly.)

3. Configure RoadRunner

Create a .rr.yaml configuration file in the root of your Laravel project:

http:
  address: "0.0.0.0:8080"
  workers:
    command: "php artisan octane:start --server=roadrunner"
    pool:
      num_workers: 4

Adjust the number of workers (num_workers) based on your server capacity.

4. Start RoadRunner & Octane

Run the following command to boot up the RoadRunner server:

./rr serve

Your Laravel application is now running with RoadRunner and Octane, providing exceptional speed and efficiency.

Performance Benchmarks: The Speed Gains

By switching to Laravel Octane + RoadRunner, developers have reported up to: ✅ 3-5x faster request handling
✅ Lower memory usage compared to PHP-FPM
✅ Improved concurrency handling

For applications with high traffic loads, Octane and RoadRunner eliminate request bottlenecks and significantly improve response times.

When Should You Use Laravel Octane + RoadRunner?

If your Laravel application requires:

• Real-time updates (chat apps, notifications, gaming)
• High-frequency API requests (public APIs, financial dashboards)
• Heavy computations (machine learning, AI-driven applications)
• Event-driven architecture (websockets, queues)

Then Laravel Octane and RoadRunner should be your go-to stack.

Conclusion

Laravel Octane and RoadRunner redefine performance optimization in PHP applications. Whether you’re handling real-time data, high concurrency requests, or simply want a snappier application, this setup offers unmatched speed and scalability.

Ready to turbocharge your Laravel application? Give Octane and RoadRunner a spin, and let speed be your competitive advantage! 🚀