There are web-performance proxy applications out there that promise to fix all your web performance issues with one click, bringing you green core web vitals scores across the board. We run into them quite frequently, and the first thing we try to do is turn them off.
But why?
We don't recommend these apps for the following reasons:
- They're usually unnecessary, because with a good theme we know without a doubt that good performance scores are within reach, no plugins needed.
- They cause more issues than they solve, issues that storefront owners might not even be aware of.
In this post we'll detail these two points to help you make a sound decision. To be clear, the intent isn't to go after the big proxies like Akamai or Cloudflare, it's targeted at proxy apps or other smaller services that seem too good to be true.
Point #1: They're usually unnecessary. Jump to heading
If your store is slow, it is not the platform. Jump to heading
Many proxy apps try to sell you on their CDN and infrastructure, knowing full well that all Liquid stores are already on a world-class infrastructure. With the storefront renderer distributed out into the cloud and proper CDN hosting and automatic optimization for all assets already taken care of business for you, there's simply no reason to add another layer on top of what you're already on.
76% of the measured Shopify stores in the Web Almanac 2025 results had passing Core Web Vital scores, putting our platform at the #1 position among competitors.
So if your site is slow, don't blame it on the platform.
If your store is slow, it's probably your theme. Jump to heading
Out of the box, most themes are good enough. First-party and third-party Shopify themes aren't always perfect, but they do pretty good. (Check out the Theme Vitals site if you'd like to compare popular Shopify themes by performance).
Below are some numbers from Shopify, platform-wide:
Core Web Vitals - All Liquid Sites (Jan 14 - Feb 10, 2026)
| Metric | Median | p75 | Good Threshold |
|---|---|---|---|
| LCP | 1,108ms | 1,884ms | ≤2,500ms |
| CLS | 0.001 | 0.033 | ≤0.1 |
| INP | 40ms | 80ms | ≤200ms |
It's when you start modding your theme that bad things start to happen. You add a new lazy-loaded gallery here, you add some json filters to some data over there, you upgrade your basic navigation menu to a giant mega menu, etc. Whatever it is, some new feature was added to your theme and now it's slower.
When there are performance issues with someone's store, a good majority of the time we focus on improving the theme and the site settles down down to good, sustainable scores again.
If your store is slow, it could be your content. Jump to heading
Do you really need 200 product cards on your collection page loaded at once? Do you really need 20 items in your product carousel? Do you really need a full-width, full-screen, autoplaying video hero banner?
More is more, and more is slow. Having a content strategy that prioritizes your most important content instead of throwing everything out there is not only more performant, but it usually leads to better conversion rates and other KPIs (always test this though).
The use of metafields, metaobjects and product variants can also be a foot gun if you're not careful. Incorrect usage can degrade performance.
If your store is slow, it could be your third-party apps. Jump to heading
Third-party apps get a bad rap sometimes, but most of the time they're not an issue. When they are, the issues we see with them are typically of the following:
- Personalization apps often use a lot of clientside JavaScript to customize the content. This might mean late loading content increasing your LCP scores (a proxy can't help with this) or increased latency in interactions (INP).
- A/B testing apps might have an anti-flicker snippet causing a delayed LCP, or it might also render clientside content as above.
- Volume of apps. One app by itself might increase your LCP by 100ms, which is usually fine in isolation, but when you add ten of them to your site, all of a sudden you're a full second slower.
Some proxy apps claim to help with third-party apps, but there's no "one-size-fits-all" solution. We recommend moderation instead. Evaluate what you need and what brings you real value and audit the performance impact of the apps you use. Consider removing or replacing apps that don't bring significant value or that degrade performance.
Point #2: Proxy apps cause more problems than they solve Jump to heading
Literally every other engineer within Shopify we've spoken to has an intense dislike for proxy apps because they cause so many knock-on problems. The rest of this post covers a multitude of things to think about before signing a long-term contract with a third‑party proxy that claims to improve performance.
Debugging when things go wrong Jump to heading
When there is no proxy, the request path is simple. The browser requests a page from Shopify and Shopify returns the page. Easy. However, when a proxy is involved, you add another system in the middle that can potentially cause issues that we can't fix. (Read the box "How caching proxies work")
We have seen:
- Google Merchant Center reporting 5XX errors (bad) while Shopify's request logs show 200s (good).
- Third‑party tools hitting cached pages with stale content
- Theme changes that do not show up because an external cache is still serving the old version
Our team does not have access to your proxy provider's logs. We cannot flush their cache. That puts operational weight on you or your agency. Often a merchant comes to us for solutions, but we can only throw up our hands and say "it's your proxy" despite our desire to help.
Performance is only one part of the story. Jump to heading
Proxies sit between your customers and your store, which means all traffic flows through them. That raises questions beyond site speed:
- Security. The proxy terminates TLS and can see everything in the request and response. If their systems are compromised, your customer data is exposed.
- Compliance. Shopify is Level 1 PCI DSS compliant out of the box. When you route traffic through a third party, you are responsible for verifying their compliance and may expand your own audit scope.
- Privacy. Customer data, browsing behavior, and order information pass through and may be cached on systems you do not control, in regions you may not know about.
- Bot detection. Proxies can degrade the signals Shopify uses to distinguish real customers from bots, which can lead to more captcha challenges for legitimate users or more bot traffic getting through.
These are not theoretical concerns, these are real concerns every store owner must consider. If you want to understand them in more detail, contact Shopify support or your account team.
What to do instead Jump to heading
For most merchants, the biggest performance wins come from improving what is already there:
- Use a modern, well‑built theme. Avoid heavy features that ship a lot of JavaScript by default.
- Audit apps and third‑party scripts. Remove apps that are not providing clear value. Check the Shopify Web Performance Dashboards.
- Let Shopify's CDN do its job. Use responsive images and built‑in asset helpers correctly.
- Keep your content focused. Don't try to promote every product you own at once, be more purposeful in how you construct your home page, collection pages, etc. This is not only better for performance, but likely better for conversions as well.
If you are doing these things and still struggling, reach out to us and we’ll be happy to have a call with you.
Third‑party caching proxies can work, and sometimes they work okay. They can also hide underlying problems and make debugging much harder. In most cases, the best path is to fix the underlying issues and let the platform handle the rest. This is the most sustainable solution for every Liquid storefront.