Scaling Laravel apps that have outgrown their setup
One server that is not enough anymore, a database that cannot keep up, queues that need proper workers, deployments that cause downtime. I have run Laravel across many servers and large datasets, and I set this up for companies with no developer of their own and for teams that have not done it before.
I'm all in on AI. It lets me get through a lot of work in a short time, and I stay careful about the code and about what goes live. Laravel and Vue are what I use most. I'm based in Germany and work with clients in Europe and the US.
I usually reply within one working day.
What scaling a Laravel app involves
In the order it usually makes sense.
Fix the app before adding servers
Most apps that feel like they need more hardware need better queries, caching and background jobs first. That is cheaper and it makes every later step easier.
Separate the database
A database server of its own, tuned for the job, with proper indexes and connection limits. Read replicas when reads dominate. Backups that are tested.
Queues and workers
Heavy work moves to queue workers on their own servers, managed with Horizon, so the web servers only serve requests. Failed jobs get retried and reported instead of vanishing.
Several web servers behind a load balancer
Sessions and cache in Redis, files in S3 or similar, and a load balancer in front. Then adding a web server is a small job instead of a project.
Search and caching at scale
Meilisearch or Elasticsearch for search, Redis for cache and sessions, and caching at the layers where it saves the most work.
Deployments without downtime
Zero-downtime deploys with Forge or your CI, health checks, and monitoring that tells you about a problem before your customers do.
How I work
You don't need to have everything figured out before we talk. An idea, access to the repo, a screen recording or a list of problems is enough. I look at what is there, tell you what I would do and what it costs, and then I build it.
I use Claude Code, Codex and my own agent workflows for reading code, planning changes, writing tests, refactoring and debugging. It is not vibe coding. It is senior engineering with a much faster loop.
AI-first, with experience on large systems
Claude Code and Codex speed up the code side of scaling: finding the queries and jobs that will not survive ten times the load, and rewriting them. The server side comes from having run Laravel across dozens of servers and hundreds of millions of records myself.
I stay in control
AI writes a lot of my code. I still make every technical decision, read every change before it ships, and test it. Fast, but meticulous: the speed is only worth something if what goes live is right.
The way you want to work
Some clients want to look at every change before it goes live, others want me to deploy. Some want a weekly call, most prefer written updates. I work well asynchronously, and I still ask the important questions when they come up.
I think like an owner
I still run my own online products. So when I build or fix yours, I think about traffic, conversion, revenue and support as much as about the code, and I tell you when something is not worth building.
Ways to work with me
Fixed price, a flat monthly rate, or hourly. It's always me doing the work, not an agency. If you're not sure, describe what you need and I'll suggest one.
Examples of my work
Larger setups I have built and run.
200 million records across several servers
A search platform over more than 200 million records with answers in under 50 milliseconds. Laravel and MeiliSearch, caching at several layers, a partner API, and operations across multiple servers.
Queues across more than 30 servers
A Laravel platform that runs scraping, contact discovery and email campaigns across more than 30 servers, processing millions of opportunities a month without anyone operating it by hand.
Two backends into one, at a fraction of the cost
I moved a PHP and Ruby on Rails backend into a single Laravel application as a drop-in replacement. Simpler to run, and monthly hosting went from four figures to about 150 dollars.
What clients say
"He's tackled some major technical challenges for us, notably significantly improving our website's performance."
"Vincent does not just close tickets, he thinks through the product, the edge cases, and the customer impact. If you need a senior Laravel developer who can move a SaaS product forward, I strongly recommend him."
"He doesn't need micromanagement - he's fully capable of making decisions and driving the project forward, which has freed me up to focus on other parts of the business."
Questions
When is it time to scale?
When the app is slow at busy times and the usual fixes, better queries, caching, background jobs, are done. Often those fixes are enough and you don't need more servers yet.
Do I need Kubernetes?
Almost certainly not. A few well-set-up servers, Forge or similar, a separate database server, proper queue workers and caching go a long way.
Can you do this without downtime?
Yes. New servers are set up next to the old ones, and we switch over when everything works.
Which hosting do you recommend?
Hetzner for most European clients, because the price for the performance is hard to beat, with Forge to manage the servers. AWS or similar when you need what only they offer.
How do you charge?
Fixed price for a job with a clear outcome, a flat monthly rate for ongoing work, or hourly. Describe what you need and I'll suggest one.
Get a quote
What is running today, where it struggles, and how much traffic and data you expect. A few sentences are enough. I'll reply with what I would change first and what it would cost.
If you would rather talk first, book a 30-minute call.