Hyvä Themes
Table of Contents
Hyvä has emerged as a performance-optimized alternative to Magento's default Luma theme. It has instantly stood out among all other Magento 2 themes, excelling in performance, responsiveness, and ease of frontend use. While the difference may be evident for seasoned Magento developers, store owners just considering launching a site may wonder — which one is better? Our post will examine the Hyva vs. Luma debate and define the winner. Spoiler: it's Hyvä in most cases (but not all).
Before exploring the Hyvä and Luma themes, let's imagine a scenario.
You've decided to launch an online store and already know why Magento is the right choice. You've probably compared it to other platforms and have already solved the Magento vs. Shopify puzzle, leaving your choice to the first option. Let it be the Magento platform, as you have plans to scale in the future and want to see your store grow into an established brand.
Why is it so important to choose the right Magento theme? The platform choice is a crucial decision that will define the course of your store years ahead, and so will the theme choice.
It's like building the foundation for your store. Just as a sturdy foundation ensures the strength of a structure, the right Magento theme serves as the fundamental framework upon which you build your store's design and functionality. Most importantly, it provides the essential features that will impact everything — from look and feel to conversion rates.
Basically, these are the factors that you need to consider when choosing between Hyvä vs Luma themes. Luckily, we've got you covered, comparing the two themes by each factor.
So, what is Luma? It's a pre-installed theme in Magento 2 that is available out of the box. This means that you can start using it straight away after you've installed Magento. Just select a default template, perform basic configurations, pass through minimal customization, and your store with the Luma theme can go live in a matter of hours.
The list of Luma pros is not complete — one can add customization options, responsiveness, and extension support, but these benefits are all relative and depend on the use case. Hyva outshines them all, and we'll explain how.
Magento Luma offers a solid foundation for small online stores and is a perfect fit for those who want to get acquainted with e-commerce and the Magento platform in particular.
Unlike Luma, the Hyvä theme wasn't created by Magento. It's a third-party theme for Magento 2, developed by HYVA.io, a company mainly focusing on Magento 2 themes and extensions.
Despite being a relatively new theme compared to Luma, Hyvä has established itself in the Magento world. It's no surprise that its popularity is growing daily because of the many benefits that Hyva provides to store owners and developers alike.
While Hyvä technically is a Magento theme, it focuses on performance and ease of frontend development, which makes it often considered an alternative to progressive web apps (PWA). "Progressiveness" is not a tweaky word here but a possibility for a web application to function like a native app and be accessible to all users, no matter the device or browser.
So, now that we have the two themes explained, it's time to see how they actually differ and what one can do in Hyva that you can't in Luma.
Luma follows Magento's standard frontend development practices, which can be complicated for novice Magento developers. Any workflow involving Magento store customization and feature development requires hours and days of research.
Hyvä, on the contrary, was made by developers, and for developers as Hyvä say themselves. The theme has become a breath of fresh air for frontend developers. It is not just the modern technology employed by Hyvä but rather pre-built components that let you quickly assemble the front end part while saving developers time and nerves.
Luma uses traditional Magento frontend technologies and heavy libraries like JQuery and RequireJS that negatively impact the site loading speed. The issue with slow performance get critical if one page stores numerous modules.
Hyvä uses modern technologies like React.js, TailwindCSS and AlpineJS enabling efficient rendering of web pages and data fetching. In practice, it results in better-performing websites.
Using the Hyvä theme in your store lets you achieve better metrics, all influencing store performance and a browsing experience, including:
Luma has always been viewed as a “heavy” theme. Its performance optimization is a separate science described in thousands-word articles.
Customization in Luma is possible, yet it can be complex and time-consuming, especially if you consider something sophisticated.
Hyvä provides a more streamlined approach to feature, design, and layout customization. Its pre-built components and modular architecture make it easier for developers to work with the front end. While you can do the same in Luma, it will take far more time and effort.
Magento stores often use additional extensions and integrations to add the required functionality or customize the existing one. Extension compatibility and support might be among the few points where the Luma theme wins (for now). Since Luma relies on Magento traditional architecture, it's by default compatible with most Magento extensions.
Hyvä extension support is somewhat limited now. Still, it's a matter of time since more extension providers are seeking to make their products compatible with Hyvä. Magento custom development service agencies also provide a standalone service for Hyvä theme development and customization.
Hyvä theme provides a one-time purchase license at €1,000, which includes full access to the Hyvä Themes code via Private Packagist and Gitlab, Huva UI, and further updates.
Luma costs zero as a default Magento theme. You already have access to the Luma theme if you have a Magento store, the open-source version, or the Magento Commerce (formerly Enterprise) edition.
While there's an instant price for licensing a theme, you need to consider its impact on overall costs, revenue, and efficiency as a store owner. While Luma is free, its support involves other factors resulting in hidden costs where Hyvä eventually wins:
Hyvä and Luma are both frontend themes for Magento, and that's the only thing they have in common. When it comes to performance, technology stack, developer workflow, and customization possibilities, Hyvä and Luma are complete strangers.
In the debate about which frontend option is best for a Magento 2 store — Hyvä vs. Luma — the answer depends on the case. While Hyvä does provide a range of benefits, there are scenarios when Luma may be an option for your store, e.g., if you need to keep the store upfront costs low and launch quickly, if you're just getting familiar with Magento or if you want to test the basic store implementation process.
In other cases, Hyvä is a fantastic theme that has proven to deliver tangible results for many of our clients. Get in touch if you need a consultation or want to learn how to power your store with Hyva.
US-based and operating globally, NEKLO spearheads digital transformation initiatives for businesses worldwide. We deliver software solutions complying with your market and legislation.
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