PrestaShop 9 – Discover What’s New and Improved

As a growing online business, keeping up with the latest technology is key—and upgrading to PrestaShop 9 is a big part of that. You might wonder if it’s the right time or if the process is too complex, but the good news is: you don’t need to do it all alone. With the right support, moving to PrestaShop 9 can be smooth, secure, and full of benefits.

In this blog, we’ll walk you through what makes PrestaShop 9 a major step forward. From improved speed and SEO to a completely new design and API, we’ll explore what’s new and why it matters for your business. We’ll also explain how upgrading works, what to keep in mind, and how experts can help you handle it stress-free. 

PrestaShop 9 comes with many improvements for online store owners, developers, and customers. It focuses on speed, security, design, SEO, and easier management. The new version will also make ecommerce development easier with prestashop.

The platform now uses Symfony 6.4 and supports PHP 8.4, making it faster, safer, and more flexible. It also introduces a brand-new API and a modern storefront theme.

Highlights of PrestaShop 9

• Built on Symfony 6.4 LTS for better long-term support
• Works with PHP 8.1 to 8.4
• New Admin API for easier integrations
• Hummingbird: a new, mobile-friendly storefront theme
• Back office has been redesigned using the Symfony framework
• Faster site speed, improved SEO, and better image handling (WebP + AVIF)
• New product management layout
• More scalable code and cleaner structure
• Early support for a modern front-end system

Symfony 6.4 and PHP 8.4 Support

PrestaShop 9 uses Symfony 6.4 – a newer, faster, and safer version of the PHP framework. This makes your store more secure and easier to maintain in the future. It also supports the latest PHP versions (8.1 to 8.4), which helps developers write better code and improves performance for your store. So, the webshop will run faster, and developers can use the newest tools to build secure, high-quality eCommerce websites.

A New Admin API for Developers

PrestaShop 9 includes a powerful new Admin API built on the popular API Platform. This makes it easier to:

• Connect your store with CRM, ERP, and marketing tools
• Automate tasks like order handling or product updates
• Make custom features using modern web standards (REST + JSON)

This API is also flexible, making it easy to extend and improve over time.

Hummingbird: A Brand-New Frontend Theme

PrestaShop 9 comes with “Hummingbird” – a brand-new design theme. It’s built using the latest web tech like Bootstrap 5, TypeScript, and SCSS.

Why it’s great:

• Fully responsive and mobile-friendly
• Easier for developers to customize and maintain
• Faster page loads and better user experience
• Dark mode support with just one switch
• Clean, modern layout with fewer external libraries

Hummingbird is a fresh start for PrestaShop design and helps webshops look great while loading faster.

Frontend Improvements

The user experience has also been improved:

• Faster website loading with WebP & AVIF image formats
• Guest checkout – customers can buy without making an account
• Cart notifications – alerts if an item is already in the cart
• Breadcrumb improvements – users know exactly where they are
• Cleaner pages for – categories, manufacturers, and suppliers
• Faster jQuery components – improved responsiveness
• New Symfony container (test version)  – for better frontend development

Better SEO and URL Management

PrestaShop 9 helps stores perform better in search engines:

• Clean URLs – category names removed for simplicity
• Option to remove language codes from URLs
• 301/302 redirects for inactive categories
• SEO rules to stop search engines from indexing filtered product lists

Easier Product Management

Managing your products is now simpler and quicker:

• New product editor – easier to use and faster
• Manual or automatic sorting of product features
• Better performance for stores with large product lists

Backend and Security Upgrades

The admin panel (back office) has a new design. It’s built entirely with Symfony and Twig, which makes it more modern and stable.

Other upgrades:

• Better layout and navigation
• You can now manually create guest accounts
• More control in debug mode (for developers)
• Stronger database security (random prefixes)
• Blocked direct access to PHP files
• Improved logging for module changes

Upgrading to PrestaShop 9

This version is a big upgrade – faster, safer, and ready for the future. To make the move easy, PrestaShop 9 includes a better update tool: Update Assistant (Version 7).

What’s new in Update Assistant:

• User-friendly design
• Clear steps for backup, upgrade, and restore
• CLI tool for advanced users and developers
• Faster updates, even for large stores
• Detailed logs and better error handling

Let Zedrox Upgrade Your Store

Upgrading can be tricky—but we make it simple. At Zedrox, we handle the entire upgrade process with care and expertise. Our Prestashop developer performs full backups and safety checks to ensure theme and module compatibility, and our team ensures a smooth transition.

We upgrade your store without any data loss, and we optimize its performance to run faster, safer, and fully aligned with the latest PrestaShop standards.