Hyvä Is Free: Is Now the Time to Move Off Luma?
by Rahul Basu
November 6,2026
For most Magento stores still on Luma, yes. The Hyvä theme has been free and open source since 10 November 2025, so the licence fee that used to block small projects is gone. What's left is the migration work itself, and that depends almost entirely on how many frontend extensions and custom templates you run.
Luma is slow, and the reason is its age. It was designed in 2015 around RequireJS and Knockout.js, and it ships a lot of JavaScript to every visitor whether they need it or not. On mobile, that shows up in Core Web Vitals, in bounce rates and, eventually, in revenue.
Hyvä replaced that frontend with Alpine.js and Tailwind CSS. For years the main argument against it was the licence cost on top of the build. That argument ended a year ago. So the question has changed from "can we justify Hyvä?" to "what will moving actually involve for our shop?" That's what this post answers.
The page-weight and Lighthouse figures come from vendor benchmarks on throttled mobile connections. Your numbers will differ. The direction won't.
For developers, the bigger change is how frontend code is written. Here is the same mini-cart counter in both themes.
Luma, with a Knockout template bound to a UI component:
<!-- ko if: getCartParam('summary_count') -->
<span class="counter-number"
data-bind="text: getCartParam('summary_count')"></span>
<!-- /ko -->
Hyvä, with Alpine.js straight in the .phtml file:
<div x-data="{ cart: {} }"
@private-content-loaded.window="cart = $event.detail.data.cart">
<span x-show="cart.summary_count"
x-text="cart.summary_count"></span>
</div>
No RequireJS config, no UI component XML, no separate template file. Developers who know HTML and a bit of JavaScript can read it on day one. That matters for maintenance costs long after launch.
The checkout is where most people get caught. With the free theme alone, the usual route is Hyvä's Luma checkout fallback module. It works, but it brings back the heavy JavaScript on the page that matters most. Most stores either buy Hyvä Checkout or budget for a custom one-page checkout.
For B2B shops on Adobe Commerce, check which B2B features your customers actually use before you price Hyvä Enterprise. Quick order, requisition lists and company accounts all need a Hyvä version, and some stores only use one or two of them.
Luma vs Hyvä: what actually changes
Hyvä only touches the storefront. Your backend, admin, catalogue, orders, ERP integration and APIs stay exactly as they are. That's the main reason it's a lower-risk project than a headless rebuild.| Luma | Hyvä | |
| JavaScript | RequireJS + Knockout.js, hundreds of KB | Alpine.js, about 15 KB |
| CSS | LESS, full compiled stylesheet | Tailwind CSS, unused classes purged at build |
| Product page weight (vendor benchmark) | ~0.9 MB | ~0.15 MB |
| Typical Lighthouse performance score | 40–60 | 90+ achievable |
| Templates | .phtml + Knockout .html templates + UI components | .phtml with Alpine attributes |
| Works with | All Magento 2 versions | Magento 2.4.4 and later, Open Source and Adobe Commerce |
What's free, and what still costs money
"Hyvä is free" is true, but it's only part of the picture. Here's the split:| Product | Price | What you get |
| Hyvä Theme | Free, OSL 3.0 + AFL 3.0 licence | Default theme and theme module: category, product, cart and customer account pages, Alpine.js components |
| Hyvä UI | €250 per store | Library of ready-made UI components (menus, sliders, product cards) |
| Hyvä Checkout | Paid, via Hyvä Commerce | Replacement for the Luma checkout |
| Hyvä Enterprise | Paid, via Hyvä Commerce | B2B features for Adobe Commerce such as company accounts and requisition lists |
Where the migration effort really goes
Installing the theme takes an afternoon. On a prepared server: composer require hyva-themes/magento2-default-theme bin/magento setup:upgrade # Build the Tailwind CSS for your child theme cd app/design/frontend/Vendor/theme/web/tailwind npm ci && npm run build Then you set the theme under Content → Design → Configuration. That's not where the weeks go. The weeks go into three places.- Extensions that render something on the storefront. Backend-only extensions (admin grids, APIs, cron jobs, ERP connectors) keep working untouched. Anything that outputs HTML or JavaScript on the frontend needs a Hyvä compatibility module. Many vendors, including Amasty, Mageplaza and Mirasvit, ship them, and Hyvä keeps a public compatibility list. Start with an inventory:
- Custom templates and Knockout components. If your previous agency built custom product configurators, delivery-date pickers or B2B order forms as Knockout UI components, they have to be rewritten in Alpine. Usually the rewrite is shorter than the original. It still takes time.
- Design. Hyvä doesn't copy your Luma look. Most teams use the migration to tidy the design anyway, which is sensible, but agree the scope before development starts. A pixel-perfect copy of an old theme is often more work than a clean new one.
Budget, timing, and when to wait
Industry estimates for a mid-sized store put a Luma-to-Hyvä migration at 4 to 8 weeks of development, roughly $15,000 to $70,000, and $25,000 to $85,000 in the first year once extension compat modules and design work are added (figures quoted by MGT Commerce). That's a wide range, and the extension inventory from the previous section is what narrows it. Get at least two quotes, and make sure both are based on the same inventory. Timing for 2026. Don't launch a new frontend between Black Friday and New Year. If you're in a code freeze from 20 November (see our peak season checklist), use December for the discovery work instead: the extension audit, the design scope and the checkout decision. Start development in January and go live in February or March, well before spring campaigns. Combine it with an upgrade, carefully. If you're also moving to Magento 2.4.9 (supported until May 2029), doing both in one project saves a round of testing. It also means two big changes at once. Plan it as two milestones: upgrade the backend first, then switch the frontend.When to hold off:
- You're planning to replatform within 12 months anyway.
- Your store relies on more than about 20 frontend extensions with no Hyvä compat module and no replacement.
- You already run a headless frontend that performs well.
- Your Magento version is older than 2.4.4. Upgrade first.
Thinking about Hyvä for 2027?
Ingold Solutions is a Hyvä Partner and Adobe Solution Partner. We built the PeJa Rampen Center shop on Magento with Hyvä, and we handle the SAP Business One side too, so the frontend switch and the ERP tests happen in one project. We'll run your extension inventory, flag what needs custom work and give you a fixed quote you can plan around. [Book a Hyvä readiness check →] (Contact Us - Magento)Frequency Ask Question
The Hyvä Theme is, since 10 November 2025, under the OSL 3.0 and AFL 3.0 licences. Hyvä UI (€250 per store), Hyvä Checkout and Hyvä Enterprise are still paid.
Yes. It runs on Magento Open Source and Adobe Commerce from version 2.4.4 onwards.
Backend-only extensions work unchanged. Extensions that render on the storefront need a Hyvä compatibility module, which many vendors already provide.
For a typical mid-sized store, four to eight weeks of development. The number of frontend extensions and custom components decides where in that range you land.
No. Hyvä only replaces the storefront. Product, price, stock and order sync with an ERP such as SAP Business One runs through the backend and stays the same.
