PHP/FrankenPHP Process Calculators

Two calculators to help you optimize your PHP application server configuration based on available RAM and CPU. Created for optimizing PHP applications on resource-constrained servers.

Quick Install

# Download all scripts
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eznix86/php-optimize/main/fpm.sh -o fpm.sh
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eznix86/php-optimize/main/frankenphp.sh -o frankenphp.sh
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eznix86/php-optimize/main/test.sh -o test.sh
chmod +x fpm.sh frankenphp.sh test.sh

# Or with wget
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eznix86/php-optimize/main/fpm.sh
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eznix86/php-optimize/main/frankenphp.sh
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eznix86/php-optimize/main/test.sh
chmod +x fpm.sh frankenphp.sh test.sh

Scripts

1. fpm.sh - PHP-FPM Calculator

For traditional PHP-FPM + Nginx/Caddy setups.

2. frankenphp.sh - FrankenPHP Calculator

For modern FrankenPHP (Caddy + PHP workers) setups.

3. test.sh - Load Testing Tool

For performance testing your configuration.

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FrankenPHP Calculator (frankenphp.sh)

Usage

# Basic usage (auto-detect everything)
./frankenphp.sh

# Custom configuration
./frankenphp.sh -r 0.2 -b 15 -m 3

# Specify overhead manually
./frankenphp.sh -o 250

# JSON output
./frankenphp.sh --json

Options

Flag	Description	Default
-r, --reserved <GB>	RAM reserved for OS	0.4 GB
-b, --buffer <PERCENT>	Safety buffer percentage	10%
-m, --multiplier <NUM>	Workers per CPU	2
-o, --overhead <MB|auto>	Memory overhead	auto
-p, --process-pattern	Process name to match	"frankenphp"
--json	JSON output	table

Overhead Detection (-o auto)

The script automatically detects memory overhead from:

1. OPcache - Auto-detected from opcache.memory_consumption
2. Caddy/FrankenPHP runtime - Fixed estimate (~50 MB)
3. Generic cache/database - Conservative estimate (~100 MB)

Total auto-detected overhead: Typically 150-350 MB depending on your stack

Manual Overhead Examples

# Minimal app (OPcache + Caddy only)
./frankenphp.sh -o 150

# Laravel + SQLite (OPcache + SQLite cache/mmap + Caddy)
./frankenphp.sh -o 306

# Laravel + MySQL + Redis
./frankenphp.sh -o 400

# Let script auto-detect (recommended)
./frankenphp.sh -o auto

Overhead Breakdown by Stack (example)

Stack	OPcache	Database	Cache	Caddy	Total
Minimal PHP app	128 MB	-	-	50 MB	~180 MB
Laravel + SQLite	128 MB	128 MB	-	50 MB	~306 MB
Laravel + MySQL	128 MB	200 MB	-	50 MB	~378 MB
Laravel + MySQL + Redis	128 MB	200 MB	64 MB	50 MB	~442 MB

Output Example

------------------------------------------------------------
FrankenPHP Worker Calculator (CLI)
------------------------------------------------------------
Total RAM (GB)               | 0.94
Reserved RAM (GB)            | 0.20
RAM Buffer (%)               | 10
CPU Count                    | 1
Worker Multiplier (per CPU)  | 2
Worker Process (MB)          | 50.00
Overhead (MB)                | 278 (auto-detected)
Available RAM (GB)           | 0.67
Available RAM (MB)           | 686
Usable for Workers (MB)      | 408
------------------------------------------------------------
CPU-based workers            | 2
Memory-based workers         | 8
Recommended workers          | 2 (conservative)
num_threads                  | 4 (2x workers)
max_threads                  | 8 (burst capacity)
------------------------------------------------------------
Estimated worker memory      | 100 MB (0.10 GB)
Estimated total memory       | 378 MB (0.37 GB)
------------------------------------------------------------

# Suggested Caddyfile configuration
{
  frankenphp {
    worker {
      file "/path/to/your/frankenphp-worker.php"
      num 2
    }
    num_threads 4
    max_threads 8
  }
}

---

PHP-FPM Calculator (fpm.sh)

Usage

# Basic usage
./fpm.sh

# Custom configuration
./fpm.sh -r 0.5 -b 10

# Static mode
./fpm.sh --pm static

# JSON output
./fpm.sh --json

Options

Flag	Description	Default
-r, --reserved <GB>	RAM reserved for OS	1 GB
-b, --buffer <PERCENT>	Safety buffer percentage	10%
-p, --pool-pattern	Process pattern to match	"php-fpm: pool"
--pm <dynamic|static>	PM mode	dynamic
--json	JSON output	table

Output Example

------------------------------------------------------------
PHP-FPM Process Calculator (CLI)
------------------------------------------------------------
Total RAM (GB)           | 0.94
Reserved RAM (GB)        | 0.5
RAM Buffer (%)           | 10
Worker Process (MB)      | 7.93
Available RAM (GB)       | 0.40
Available RAM (MB)       | 410
------------------------------------------------------------
pm.mode (selected)       | dynamic
pm.max_children          | 51
pm.start_servers         | 10
pm.min_spare_servers     | 5
pm.max_spare_servers     | 15
------------------------------------------------------------

# Suggested php-fpm pool config
pm = dynamic
pm.max_children = 51
pm.start_servers = 10
pm.min_spare_servers = 5
pm.max_spare_servers = 15

---

Performance Testing

Use test.sh to load test your configuration:

# Test with 51 concurrent workers for 60 seconds
./test.sh -w 51 -u http://localhost/login -d 60

# Progressive load test (10% → 100%)
./test.sh -u http://localhost/login --progressive -m 51

---

Real-World Example: 1GB Server

Setup

• Server: 1 CPU, 1GB RAM
• Stack: Laravel + SQLite + FrankenPHP
• Worker size: ~50 MB under load

Configuration Process

# 1. Run the calculator
./frankenphp.sh -r 0.2 -b 10 -o auto

# Output recommends:
# - 6 workers
# - num_threads: 12
# - max_threads: 24

# 2. Apply to Caddyfile
# 3. Load test
./test-fpm.sh -w 51 -u http://localhost/login -d 60

# 4. Monitor memory
watch -n 2 'free -m'

Results

• Throughput: 150-160 req/s
• Response time: 300-350ms average
• Memory usage: 400-500 MB stable
• Uptime: 100% (no OOM kills)

Comparison: PHP-FPM vs FrankenPHP

Metric	PHP-FPM	FrankenPHP	Winner
Requests/sec	81	156	FrankenPHP (92% more)
Avg response	120ms	65ms	FrankenPHP (46% faster)
Memory usage	441 MB	459 MB	PHP-FPM (4% less)
Setup complexity	Medium	Medium	Tie

Opcache Optimization is important

Locate your loaded ini with php --ini and look for opcache.

; Core settings
opcache.enable=1                          ; Enable OPcache for PHP requests
opcache.enable_cli=0                      ; Disable OPcache for CLI (keeps CLI predictable)
opcache.memory_consumption=256            ; Shared memory size for OPcache in MB
opcache.interned_strings_buffer=32        ; Memory for interned strings (improves performance)
opcache.max_accelerated_files=20000       ; Max number of PHP files OPcache can store

; File change checks (disabled for production immutability)
; Reloading php-fpm and frankenphp will reload opcache too
opcache.validate_timestamps=0             ; Do not check file timestamps (best performance)
opcache.revalidate_freq=0                 ; No effect when timestamps are disabled

; Performance
opcache.fast_shutdown=1                   ; Faster shutdown for each request
opcache.enable_file_override=1            ; Allow OPcache to override include paths for speed

; Optimization
opcache.optimization_level=2147483647     ; Enable all optimization passes
opcache.save_comments=1                   ; Keep PHP comments (needed for annotations/reflection)

; File caching behavior
opcache.file_update_protection=0          ; No delay for detecting file changes (safe when immutable)
opcache.max_wasted_percentage=10          ; Restart OPcache if fragmentation exceeds 10%

; Preloading (optional)
; opcache.preload=/path/to/preload.php    ; Preload script for large frameworks (not necessary for frankenphp)
; opcache.preload_user=www-data           ; User for preload (match your PHP-FPM user)

; JIT (disabled for stability unless you need it)
opcache.jit=off                           ; Disable Just-In-Time compiler (not needed for most apps)
opcache.jit_buffer_size=0                 ; No memory reserved for JIT

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Credit:

Inspiration from: https://www.damianoperri.it/public/phpCalculator/