Deploying Laravel Applications on Laravel Cloud With MongoDB Atlas

Laravel MongoDB integration, MongoDB Atlas connection, Laravel Cloud deployment, PHP extension MongoDB

So you’ve got a Laravel app and you’re thinking:

“Hey, wouldn’t it be nice if I could deploy this on Laravel Cloud and use MongoDB Atlas for storage?”

Well guess what — you absolutely can. And honestly, once it’s all wired up, it’s smoother than expected. Let’s walk through how to deploy a Laravel app to Laravel Cloud with MongoDB Atlas, step by step, with a few gotchas to avoid along the way.

🧩 Why Laravel Cloud + MongoDB Atlas?

Laravel Cloud is tailor-made for Laravel apps — environment management, auto-scaling, queue workers, you name it. Meanwhile, MongoDB Atlas is the go-to cloud database when you want flexibility, schema-less structures, and scalability out of the box.

Together? You get:

✨ Full Laravel support (duh)
🌍 Cloud-native, globally distributed NoSQL DB
🔒 Secure access (no exposing credentials)
🔁 Easy CI/CD flow with Laravel Forge-style feel

Great combo if your app handles dynamic data structures (like CMS content, logs, e-commerce metadata) where relational databases feel too tight.

🔧 Step 1: Spin Up Your MongoDB Atlas Cluster

First off, if you haven’t created a MongoDB Atlas account, hit up mongodb.com and create a free-tier cluster. It’s enough for dev and testing.

Inside the Atlas dashboard:

Create a new cluster (choose AWS/GCP/Azure and your region).
Go to Database Access, create a user (write/read).
Go to Network Access, and add an IP whitelist:
Use 0.0.0.0/0 for now (yes, it’s open, we’ll fix this later).
Finally, copy your connection string. It’ll look like this:

mongodb+srv://your_user:your_pass@your-cluster.mongodb.net/?retryWrites=true&w=majority

💼 Step 2: Install MongoDB Support in Laravel

Laravel doesn’t support MongoDB out of the box — but there’s a mature package that does: jenssegers/laravel-mongodb.

composer require jenssegers/mongodb

After that, update your .env:

DB_CONNECTION=mongodb
DB_HOST=your-cluster.mongodb.net
DB_PORT=27017
DB_DATABASE=your_database
DB_USERNAME=your_user
DB_PASSWORD=your_pass

Then add the MongoDB connection in config/database.php:

'mongodb' => [
    'driver'   => 'mongodb',
    'host'     => env('DB_HOST'),
    'port'     => env('DB_PORT'),
    'database' => env('DB_DATABASE'),
    'username' => env('DB_USERNAME'),
    'password' => env('DB_PASSWORD'),
    'options'  => [
        'authSource' => 'admin',
        'tls' => true
    ]
],

Yes, that tls flag is important for Atlas.

🚀 Step 3: Push Your App to Laravel Cloud

Alright, now that MongoDB is ready and Laravel understands it, time to deploy.

Head to laravelcloud.com and:

Create a new project
Connect your GitHub repo
Set your Laravel environment to production
Add the necessary .env values, especially:

APP_KEY, APP_ENV, APP_URL
Your MongoDB Atlas credentials (from earlier)

The cool part? Laravel Cloud lets you manage environment variables with secrets, so your DB password never leaks.

Once done, hit “Deploy.”

✅ Step 4: Test If It Works

Let’s be honest: nothing feels better than seeing your production app Just Work™ after deployment. But before you get too comfy, let’s test if MongoDB is talking to Laravel properly.

In a controller or route:

use App\Models\User;

Route::get('/check', function () {
    return User::all();
});

If it returns JSON without blowing up — congrats, the connection’s working!

⚠️ Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Here’s what might trip you up (ask me how I know 😅):

1. Wrong MongoDB URI Format

Make sure your connection string is Atlas-style. Use mongodb+srv:// — not the old mongodb:// format.

2. TLS not enabled

Atlas requires TLS. If you miss 'tls' => true, the app will silently fail to connect.

3. PHP extension missing

You need the PHP MongoDB driver. If you’re testing locally, install it via:

pecl install mongodb

And don’t forget to add extension=mongodb.so in your php.ini.

4. Schema assumptions

MongoDB doesn’t enforce schemas like MySQL. So don’t expect Laravel’s migrations to apply. Use custom logic or packages like Laravel Mongolid if you need structure.

🤓 Bonus: Using MongoDB for Queues or Sessions

You can also configure MongoDB to handle queues or session storage in Laravel.

In config/queue.php:

'connections' => [
    'mongodb' => [
        'driver' => 'mongodb',
        'connection' => 'mongodb',
        'queue' => 'default',
        'expire' => 60,
    ],
],

In config/session.php:

'driver' => 'mongodb',

Just make sure your app actually has the MongoDB session and queue drivers configured.

🧠 When to Choose MongoDB Over MySQL

This combo is perfect for use cases like:

Document-based apps (CMS, blogs)
Flexible schema needs (custom fields per user)
Analytics/logs/events tracking
IoT data ingestion
Apps with nested or deep JSON objects

If your app needs rigid structure and tons of relational queries — MySQL/PostgreSQL is probably still better.

But if your app leans into flexibility and speed? MongoDB will feel like a breath of fresh air.

🧵 TL;DR

Laravel Cloud + MongoDB Atlas = 🔥
If you follow the steps above:

✅ Deploying is fast and secure
✅ You get scalable NoSQL out of the box
✅ Laravel is 100% compatible (thanks to community packages)
✅ Perfect setup for dynamic data needs

Here’s the 5-second version:

# MongoDB prep
-> Spin up MongoDB Atlas
-> Create DB user and whitelist IP
-> Grab your connection URI

# Laravel setup
-> Install jenssegers/laravel-mongodb
-> Add config to database.php
-> Update .env

# Deploy
-> Push to Laravel Cloud
-> Set secrets, deploy, test

☕ Final Thoughts

It’s wild how smooth this integration is now. A few years ago, connecting Laravel and MongoDB felt like duct-taping a cat to a rocket. Now? It’s plug and play (almost).

Laravel Cloud does a great job abstracting deployment pain, and MongoDB Atlas gives you a database you don’t have to babysit.

Give this combo a try. Once you go schema-less, you might not look back.

If you want an example repo or a deep-dive into Eloquent + MongoDB relationships, let me know — happy to dive in.

Happy deploying 🚀