Ulisha Store Next to Laravel: What Did Go Wrong?

Ulisha Store is an e-commerce platform that started with Next.js and Supabase but faced challenges as it scaled. We eventually migrated to Laravel for better performance and scalability. In this post, we discuss the reasons behind the migration and the benefits of using Laravel for our project.

2026-04-17

What is Ulisha Store?

It's a project Elisha Paul Okai and I started. We wanted to create an e-commerce platform that was easy to use, flexible and cost effective. We start with Vanilla React with Supabase to achieved our goal. We wanted to create a platform that could be used by small businesses and entrepreneurs to sell their products online without the need for complex setups or high costs. But problems starts piling up as we try to add more features and scale the application. We faced issues with performance, scalability, and maintainability. We also struggled with the complexity of the codebase and the lack of clear documentation.

We decided to migrate to Next.js to solve some of these issues, but we still faced challenges even if there architectural improvements. We had to deal with issues related to server-side rendering, routing, and state management. The positive side of using Next.js or React partner with Supabase is that we were able to leverage the benefits of both technologies. Next.js provided us with a powerful framework for building server-rendered React applications, while Supabase offered a robust backend solution for our e-commerce platform. Vercel & Supabase Cloud provided free hosting and authentication services, which helped us to focus on building our application without worrying about infrastructure costs. We also used GitHub for version control and collaboration, which made it easier for us to work together and manage our codebase.

But in the end, the production cost when deploying to Verce and Supabase Cloud is not sustainable for us as we scale and that is the major issues for small-medium businesses. We had to make a tough decision to migrate to Laravel, which is a more traditional web framework that offers better performance and scalability for our needs.

The Migration to Laravel

The shared hosting of Laravel or PHP based web applications is more cost effective than the serverless hosting of Next.js and Supabase Cloud. This is because shared hosting providers typically charge a fixed monthly fee for hosting, which can be more affordable for small businesses and entrepreneurs who are just starting out. In contrast, serverless hosting providers like Vercel and Supabase Cloud often charge based on usage, which can become expensive as the application scales and attracts more traffic. Laravel already solved the major issues but also give us the flexibility of SEO/GEO targeting and better performance. We can also leverage the large ecosystem of Laravel packages and tools to enhance our application and add new features more easily.

Worth the Migration?

While the migration to Laravel was a difficult decision, it was ultimately the right choice for our project. We were able to achieve better performance, scalability, and maintainability with Laravel, which has allowed us to grow our application and serve our customers more effectively. We just didn't migrate we re-engineered the entire application to be more efficient and scalable. We also took the opportunity to improve our codebase and implement best practices for web development, which has helped us to create a more robust and reliable application. UI/UX improvements is also a major focus for us, and we have been able to leverage the flexibility of Laravel to create a more user-friendly and intuitive interface for our customers.

Larave Hybrid Setup

We also implemented a hybrid setup where we use Laravel Blade for storefront and React for the user dashboard and admin panel. This allows us to leverage the benefits of both technologies and create a more seamless user experience for our customers. The storefront is built using Laravel Blade, which allows us to create a fast and responsive user interface for our customers. The user dashboard and admin panel are built using React, which provides a more dynamic and interactive experience for our users. This hybrid setup has allowed us to create a more efficient and scalable application while still providing a great user experience for our customers. We can leverage the strengths of both technologies to create a more robust and reliable e-commerce platform that meets the needs of our users.

Thank you for reading! If you have any questions or want to learn more about our migration to Laravel, feel free to reach out. We’re always happy to share our experiences and insights with the community.