How ButterCMS handles scale
Enterprise-grade infrastructure
ButterCMS handles high-volume content delivery and complex integrations for enterprise websites and applications. The global CDN ensures fast content delivery, enhancing user experience and SEO for enterprise websites.Automatic scaling architecture
Your application’s scaling responsibilities
While ButterCMS scales automatically, your application needs proper architecture to handle high traffic. See:- Caching Strategies — SSG/ISR, application-level caching with node-cache and Redis, SWR, and TTL recommendations
- CDN & Global Delivery — multi-layer caching architecture and Cache-Control/stale-while-revalidate patterns
Handling traffic spikes
Preparation checklist
Before a planned traffic event
Before a planned traffic event
- Verify all caching layers are configured
- Pre-warm caches by visiting key pages
- Test webhook-based cache invalidation
- Review API usage in Analytics dashboard (see Monitoring API Usage)
- Ensure error pages are static (no API calls)
- Set up monitoring and alerting
Optimize critical pages
Optimize critical pages
- Minimize API calls per page
- Use
exclude_bodyfor listings - Set
levels=1where possible - Implement lazy loading for below-fold content
- Pre-build static versions of high-traffic pages
Plan for degradation
Plan for degradation
- Create fallback content for API failures
- Implement circuit breakers
- Have a static fallback version of critical pages (e.g., homepage, primary landing pages)
- Test behavior when ButterCMS is unreachable
Graceful degradation pattern
Architecture patterns for scale
Pattern 1: edge-first architecture
Deploy your application to edge locations for minimum latency:Pattern 2: backend-for-frontend (BFF)
Create a dedicated API layer that handles caching and aggregation:Pattern 3: pre-warming caches
Before expected traffic spikes, pre-warm your caches:Monitoring during high traffic
Key metrics to watch
| Metric | Normal | Warning | Critical |
|---|---|---|---|
| Response time (p95) | < 200ms | 200-500ms | > 500ms |
| Error rate | < 0.1% | 0.1-1% | > 1% |
| Cache hit ratio | > 90% | 80-90% | < 80% |
| API usage | Within plan | 80% of limit | > 90% of limit |
Real-time monitoring setup
Enterprise scaling considerations
For enterprise-level traffic:- Multi-site support - Manage multiple sites from a single account
- Multi-environment - Separate staging and production
- Custom CDN integration - Use your own CDN if needed
- Enterprise support - Direct access to ButterCMS engineering team