What is PrestaShop 9?
PrestaShop is open source online store software, created in France: you can download it for free, install it on your own hosting and extend it with modules. Each major version (1.7, 8, 9) modernises the code; minor versions (9.1, 9.2) add features, and patch releases (9.1.5, for example) fix bugs and security flaws.
PrestaShop 9.0 was released on 10 June 2025. It is the biggest technical change since 1.7: the project moved from Symfony 4.4, which was no longer maintained, to Symfony 6.4 LTS, and dropped PHP 7. Even though the interface looks like the previous one, a large part of the code has been rewritten.
PrestaShop 9 new features, version by version
PrestaShop 9.0 (June 2025): the new foundations
- Redesigned back office, with a new product page: the old one is gone. Login, products and orders are now built with Symfony, for a clearer and faster experience.
- WebP and AVIF image formats: lighter than JPEG, so the store loads faster.
- Guest checkout, even when the customer’s email address already has an account: a simpler path to purchase.
- SEO, for better visibility in Google: shorter product URLs (without the category, by default on a new store), optional removal of the default language from the URL, category redirects disabled, filtered listings excluded from indexing.
- Security: a random database table prefix at installation, and debug mode restricted to one specific browser, for a store that is better protected from day one.
- Admin API: a new administration API (REST, JSON, based on API Platform), still under construction, to connect the store to other software: ERP, marketplace, logistics tool.
- Update Assistant 7, the new name of the “1-Click Upgrade” module, to back up, update and roll back.
PrestaShop 9.1 (March 2026): Hummingbird by default
- Hummingbird becomes the default theme. Built with Bootstrap 5, it replaces Classic, which can still be used but will not get new features. Its design is more modern, responsive and more accessible.
- Shipping in several parcels (multi-shipping, or multi-carrier), as an experimental feature to switch on: one order can leave with several carriers, a real help for stores that ship from several warehouses.
- Improved discounts in the back office: a long-awaited improvement, with more types of rules and clearer limits (amount, duration, customer).
Five patch releases followed, up to 9.1.5 on 18 August 2026, the last planned version of the branch before 9.2.
PrestaShop 9.2 (September 2026): one-page checkout
- One Page Checkout: the whole checkout in a single step, faster on mobile and aimed at better conversion, with the option of going back to the four-step checkout in the back office settings.
- Custom fields (Extra Properties) on products, customers or orders, with no module or development: a more flexible store that the merchant adapts on their own.
- Ask AI: a conversational assistant in the back office, connected to the AI provider of your choice, to help the merchant with day-to-day tasks.
- PrestaShop Automation with Klaviyo, included in the Classic edition: marketing automation to send automatic email and SMS campaigns (abandoned basket, reminders, birthdays).
- Thumbnails: a new cropping setting (fit, crop or frame), and a more accessible Hummingbird 2.1.
- PHP 8.5 support.
What these new features change for the merchant
Day to day, PrestaShop 9 mainly brings easier management and more flexibility: a clearer product page, grouped settings, and fewer modules to buy for common needs (one-page checkout, custom fields, marketing automation). The checkout gets shorter and the customer journey more direct, which matters on mobile, where a large share of traffic comes from. Overall: a more flexible and more robust system, and a store ready for how people shop in 2026. The SEO gains are real but modest on an existing store: URLs do not change during an upgrade unless you decide so.
The flip side: each new feature has to be switched on and configured. An upgrade does not turn on One Page Checkout or the new theme by itself, and that is a good thing: you stay in control of your site, and the process stays logical, one step at a time.
What changes for modules and the theme
This is the costly part of a migration, and the one to plan for first. The official developer documentation lists every change, for modules as well as themes; the ones I come across most often:
- Symfony 6.4: admin controllers written for 1.7 or 8 must be adapted, and services that used to be public (translation, session) no longer are.
- Removed services and classes: long-deprecated services and classes have disappeared. A module that calls them throws an error, often a blank screen in the back office.
- Example message: “Removed service” or “Deprecated class” in the error logs points to a module calling code that has been removed or is at end of life.
- New context: the old Context object is split into dedicated services (language, currency, shop, employee…). The old one still works, but up-to-date modules move to the new one.
- Removed hooks: nearly twenty linked to the old product page, and seven linked to login. A module attached to them simply stops firing, with no error message.
- Removed libraries: Guzzle, Tactician and SwiftMailer are replaced by their Symfony equivalents. A module that used them must ship them itself.
- Emails: SSL encryption is no longer accepted, only TLS.
- Theme: Hummingbird is based on Bootstrap 5, Classic on Bootstrap 4. A theme bought from a marketplace must be declared PrestaShop 9 compatible by its publisher; a custom theme (bespoke template) has to be checked screen by screen, and moving to Hummingbird sometimes amounts to a small redesign: a real project, with its own plan and budget.
Worth knowing: a module marked “PrestaShop 9 compatible” on the official marketplace is compatible in its latest version. If your copy has been customised, its compatibility has to be checked separately: that is often where the problem hides, in an existing module modified years ago.
PrestaShop 9 technical requirements
- PHP 8.1 minimum, 8.4 with 9.0 and 9.1, up to 8.5 with 9.2. Choose a version that is still maintained: end-of-support dates are published on the official PHP website.
- Up-to-date hosting: a server that only offers PHP 7.4 cannot run PrestaShop 9. Check the configuration in your host’s customer area before you start.
- A MySQL or MariaDB database, and access to the hosting (FTP or SSH) to upload the files to the site folder.
- Node.js 20: only useful to the developer who rebuilds the theme or module files.
Downloading and installing PrestaShop 9
There are two official sources to download PrestaShop 9: prestashop.com, and the releases page on GitHub (github.com/PrestaShop/PrestaShop/releases). Always take the latest stable version, never a beta on a store that is selling. Installation happens in the browser: you upload the archive to the hosting, then the wizard asks for the database credentials, the language, the store name and the administrator account. An official Docker image also exists for developers who want a test environment in a few minutes.
How does PrestaShop 9 perform?
PrestaShop does not announce any measured gain. Two changes do affect speed, though: PHP 8 runs code faster than PHP 7, and WebP and AVIF images weigh less than JPEG. On a real store, the difference depends mostly on the modules and the hosting: I measure loading time before and after on the key pages (home, category, product, basket), for a store that is genuinely optimised. Optimising images, cache and server often matters more than the version itself.
How to test PrestaShop 9 before migrating
- A test site: install PrestaShop 9 on a protected subdomain to discover the new back office and the Hummingbird theme.
- A copy of your store: this is the only real test. You upgrade it in a test (or staging) environment without touching the live store, then place a complete order, from basket to payment.
- The list of your modules: for each one, check with the publisher whether a PrestaShop 9 compatible version exists, starting with the modules that are essential to selling (payment such as PayPal or PrestaShop Checkout, shipping, invoicing).
- Maintenance mode: on go-live day, it closes the store for a few minutes while you switch over.
Where to find help on PrestaShop 9
The PrestaShop community is active, and most of the information is public:
- the developer documentation (devdocs.prestashop-project.org), with the full list of changes in each version;
- the project blog (build.prestashop-project.org), which announces each release and the betas to test;
- GitHub Discussions and the community Slack, where the project asks for feedback on each version. On Slack as in the discussions, contributors often reply quickly, as long as you ask a precise question;
- the Friends of Presta Slack, the French community association, if you are comfortable discussing in French;
- the PrestaShop Help Center, for questions about the publisher’s own services.
For a merchant, these resources are valuable but technical: if you just need a clear answer about your store, a PrestaShop expert will save you time.
What comes after 9.2?
When 9.2 was announced, the project only said that work on the next version had started, with no date and no detailed public roadmap. PrestaShop 10 has no announced date so far. To follow the news, the project blog and the GitHub repository are the two sources to watch; the roadmap is published there piece by piece, release after release.
Should you upgrade to PrestaShop 9 in 2026?
- You are creating a store: yes, go straight to 9.2.
- Your store runs 8.2: there is no rush, 8.2 receives security fixes until PrestaShop 10 is released. But the PrestaShop 8 to 9 migration is the lightest one: plan it once your modules are ready, rather than in a hurry.
- Your store runs 1.7 or 1.6: yes, without waiting, because it no longer receives any security fix. The steps, pitfalls and prices are in my article PrestaShop 1.7 to 8 or 9 upgrade.
If you would rather hand over the project, my PrestaShop upgrade and migration service details the method and the fixed prices. You can also contact me for a free first opinion on your project: no need to go through a web agency to get a clear answer.
