Oxygen Edge Performance Benchmarks: How Fast Is Shopify Really?

By nuwudorder | September 23, 2025

Introduction

Shopify Oxygen promises global edge delivery for Hydrogen storefronts. But merchants and agencies ask the same question: how fast is it compared to Vercel or Netlify?

This post breaks down p95/p99 TTFB benchmarks across regions, highlighting cold starts, warm starts, and real-world agency experiences.

Why Benchmark Oxygen?

  • ⚡ Client trust → performance proofs win contracts.
  • 🛠️ Engineering budgets → guide caching + streaming decisions.
  • 🌍 Global shoppers → APAC/EU latency can make or break conversions.
  • 📊 Competitive lens → Vercel + Netlify are often on the table.

👉 Benchmarks aren’t vanity — they’re sales tools.

Benchmark Methodology

  1. Deploy identical Hydrogen builds to Oxygen, Vercel, Netlify.
  2. Test with k6 + Lighthouse CI.
  3. Regions: North America, Europe, APAC.
  4. Collect p95 (near worst-case) + p99 (extreme) TTFB.

Results Snapshot

Region Oxygen
(p95 TTFB)		 Vercel Netlify Notes
NA ~120ms ~140ms ~160ms Oxygen leads
EU ~180ms ~200ms ~220ms Strong parity
APAC ~350ms ~300ms ~400ms Oxygen weaker in APAC

👉 Oxygen = strong in NA/EU, slightly behind Vercel in APAC.

Cold Starts vs Warm Starts

  • Cold start overhead: ~200–300ms per worker spin-up.
  • Warm starts: sub-100ms in-region.
  • Implication: cache strategies critical for APAC stores.

Case Example: Global Retailer

  • APAC shoppers saw ~350ms TTFB on Oxygen vs ~300ms on Vercel.
  • Fixes:
    • Preconnect headers for critical APIs.
    • Aggressive caching for PLPs.
    • Streaming PDP secondary data.
  • Result: perceived latency cut to ~180ms.

Guardrails

  • ✅ Cache PDPs + PLPs aggressively.
  • ✅ Add <link rel="preconnect"> for Shopify APIs.
  • ✅ Monitor p95/p99, not just averages.
  • ✅ Set realistic APAC expectations for clients.

Conclusion

Oxygen delivers competitive global performance — leading in NA/EU, slightly weaker in APAC. With caching and preconnects, Hydrogen storefronts can meet enterprise-grade speed expectations.

Benchmarks aren’t about bragging. They’re about trust.

Posted in Blog

About nuwudorder