A Brief Overview of PrestaShop 9.0: What’s New?
As of now, the new version requires PHP from version 8.1 to 8.4 (at the time of writing). Support for Symfony up to version 6.4 (compared to version 4.4 used in PrestaShop 8.1) is a significant step for the project to align with the PHP ecosystem. Symfony 6.4 is the latest available version with long-term support, offering security updates until November 2027.
The most noticeable difference is the new back office design, which is now almost entirely black and white. This style appeared in later versions of PrestaShop 8.0 and is now being adopted as the standard for new versions. And the puffin bird, which once served as PrestaShop’s logo, has now finally flown home for good.
A major innovation in this version is the new admin panel API. It allows developers to interact more efficiently with the back office via API. This is just the initial step, and time will show how it evolves:
Additionally, the back office is now fully managed using Symfony and the Twig templating engine, although backward compatibility with Smarty is still maintained. Most of the changes and improvements have been made under the hood in the codebase. On the surface, the functionality remains mostly unchanged.
As for the front office, you can now see the new Hummingbird theme (version 0.2.0), which comes bundled with PrestaShop 9.0. The Classic theme (version 3.0.1) is also still available. So now, PrestaShop includes two themes out of the box. The new theme is built on Bootstrap 5, features a slightly modified folder structure, uses TypeScript, and follows the BEM methodology for CSS:
Regarding performance, developers promise faster page loading times, fewer SQL queries, and a quicker back office. However, as this is still a beta version, the real-world metrics will be verified by the community.
It’s important to note that PrestaShop 9.0 doesn’t include many user-facing changes — the main focus has been on internal restructuring, dependency updates, and preparing for future improvements. The developers aim to make the platform more modern, reliable, and flexible without breaking compatibility with existing solutions.
PrestaShop 9.0 is an evolutionary update focused on architectural development, improved compatibility with modern standards, and better conditions for developers. While it may lack radical surface-level changes, the project’s foundation has been significantly strengthened. The beta is now available for testing — and now is the perfect time to try the new version, prepare for migration, and provide feedback to the developers.