How Magento Hyvä Outperforms Luma Theme

We’ve spent years developing eCommerce stores on Magento and we’ve seen plenty of trends come and go.

But when Hyvä Theme landed on the scene, it completely changed how we think about Magento frontends now.

We’ve been a Hyvä gold partner for a while now, and honestly, it’s been outperforming the Luma theme and helping our clients since its launch. Today, we want to break down exactly how Magento Hyvä outperforms Luma, and why we rarely recommend Luma anymore unless there’s a really specific reason.

We’ve worked on 40+ Hyva theme development projects, and this blog brings real Magento frontend comparison to you. It will help you (store owners) understand which Magento theme delivers superior performance for your online store.

From development efficiency to user experience, Magento Hyvä outperforms Luma consistently.

Let’s finally understand the HOW.

The Problem with Luma (That Nobody Talks About)

Luma has been Magento’s default theme since day one, and it works well too.

It’s not as terrible as you might think we’re gonna describe it. But… It’s more like a slow sailer.

It might get you from point A to point B, but you ain’t winning any race with it.

Okay, talking technically…

We all know the importance of speed in eCommerce and how shoppers won’t tolerate a single friction in their shopping experience. And the least shoppers expect is a seamless online space that performs greater across devices and loads in (almost) split second. Like, lightning-fast load speed.

And Luma theme (from the very start to now) drives Magento projects crazy due to its heavy tech stack.

This default Magento theme struggles with slow performance issues that impact customer experience across Magento stores.

Here’s what we consistently encountered with Luma projects that impacted both development time and developed outcomes:

#1 – It Has Resource-heavy Architecture

Luma Magento theme typically generates around 230 HTTP requests for a standard product page load, which compromise load speed.

In today’s performance-focused environment, this level of resource consumption creates substantial bottlenecks, particularly for mobile users on slower connections. This slow performance significantly affects store performance and overall customer experience. This is one of the key reasons why Magento Hyvä outperforms Luma in terms of resource efficiency.

Pro Tip: Slow websites drive customers away faster than you think. Even a 1-second delay can cut conversions by 7%. If speed is your biggest pain point, it’s time to consider Magento Hyvä theme development for a performance-first storefront.

#2 – It Has Complex Dependencies

Luma relies on traditional Magento frontend technologies and heavy libraries (RequireJS, jQuery, KnockoutJS).

While familiar to many developers, these are dated and bloated libraries that can hurt your store’s performance. Unlike modern technologies used in newer solutions, these dependencies create performance optimization challenges for Magento users.

#3 – It Has Mobile Performance Limitations

When 60% of eCommerce traffic comes from mobile devices, Luma’s heavy footprint becomes a real problem.

The theme wasn’t built with mobile-first thinking, and it shows. Loading times that might have been okay a few years ago now cause customers to bounce before they even explore products. This mobile performance gap is another area where Magento Hyvä outperforms Luma significantly.

#4 – It Requires Complex Customizations

Luma theme is layered in CSS & KnockoutJS architecture, which often requires extensive customization to implement seemingly straightforward modifications.

Simple styling adjustments can involve complex working chains, while functional customizations require deep familiarity with KnockoutJS patterns that many modern web technologies developers find less intuitive than modern alternatives. The customization capabilities are limited compared to modern tools available today.

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Those are the bottlenecks we figure for the Luma theme in these years of working with Magento.

These limitations clearly demonstrate why Magento Hyvä outperforms Luma in modern eCommerce development.

And yes, these problems only existed until the Hyvä theme for Magento 2 was first released in February 2021, bringing in a solution to all the chaos happening in the Magento frontend.

Let’s understand Hyvä theme vs. magento luma and see how Magento Hyvä outperforms Luma in every aspect.

The Solution Brought By Hyvä Theme

Hyvä is a lightweight frontend for Magento that promises to fix all performance issues of existing Magento frontend themes (such as Luma). Hyvä theme comes as a blank canvas where you can build your Magento frontend from scratch.

Unlike other Magento themes, it follows an entirely different tech stack to offer green lighthouse scores to website performance, accessibility, best practices, and SEO. This approach delivers exceptional performance and optimal performance for Magento store owners seeking modern aesthetics and functionality.

# How Magento Hyvä Outperforms Luma Theme

Earlier, I mentioned that Magento’s existing front, the Luma theme, is filled with heavy-weighted JS libraries, including RequireJS, KnockoutJS, and jQuery.

And maintenance of multiple heavy-weighted libraries was a burden and had a huge impact on website load times.

This is where Magento Hyvä outperforms Luma by taking a completely different approach.

What Hyvä did differently is that they removed the existing codebase of Magento and built another one from scratch. To replace those heavy-weighted libraries and bring in lightweight code, they chose to depend entirely on AlpineJS and TailwindCSS. These modern technologies help work easily with pre-built components and enhance frontend development efficiency.

Also, the reduction in dependencies and lightweight code helped Hyvä theme outperform Luma in matters of frontend performance.

This Hyvä theme speed vs Luma comparison shows significant improvements in store performance and customer experience. When analyzing performance metrics, Magento Hyvä outperforms Luma across all key indicators including page load times, mobile responsiveness, and overall user experience.

Pro Tip:Want to maximize Hyvä’s performance benefits? Pair it with optimized hosting and a strong caching setup. This ensures your Magento store consistently hits top PageSpeed scores across all devices. Our Hyva theme experts can guide you better. Get in touch.

Our Clients Benefited by Implementing Hyvä Theme

See, how we were able to offer a great performance boost to our customers using Hyvä themes!

Here are the Google PageSpeed Scores.

(1) Imaginfires – Increased site speed by 296%

(2) Grand Stores – Achieved 104% Increase in Page Speed

(3) Umniah – Increased site speed by 224%

It shows that if a speedy and responsive website is your top priority, Hyvä is the perfect solution to drive your Magento store forward.

These results demonstrate how Magento Hyvä outperforms Luma in real-world implementations across different Magento stores. The performance improvements clearly show that Magento Hyvä outperforms Luma when it comes to delivering exceptional user experiences.

When Luma Might Still Make Sense?

We’re not going to pretend Hyvä is perfect for everyone. There are still cases where Luma might be the right choice:

1st – If your budget is tight, where every dollar matters, and you only need a few functionalities to go fast, Luma can work as it is a free theme solution for small businesses.

2nd – If you depend heavily on Magento extensions, staying on Luma is preferable as Hyvä theme might need a compatibility fix for extensions. But again, most Magento extensions providers have worked (and are working) on extension compatibility with the Hyvä theme. Also, the extension support for Magento stores continues to improve, which is a great sign.

3rd – If you’ve a simple store with no such lightning-fast performance requirements, Luma’s overhead might not matter as much for your small online stores having minimal customization needs.

But honestly, these cases are becoming rarer.

The Hyvä ecosystem is growing fast, with major extension providers releasing Hyvä-compatible versions monthly and hundreds of Magento owners joining the community.

The extensive compatibility also continues to expand across various Magento extensions.

Making the Switch to Hyvä Theme

Seeing how Magento Hyvä outperforms the Luma theme frontend, you might want to invest in the Hyvä themes license.

Yet, it’s true that making such decisions comes with doubts and questions.

Read more: Ultimate Guide On Hyvä Themes – For Online Merchants!

Hyvä can be implemented by businesses of all sizes and comes with basic seo features, headless architecture, standalone components, and more to build a better Magento store. Also, you face lower optimization costs when working with the Hyvä theme.

Small businesses can get the Hyvä theme using the InstaBuild templates, which can reduce UI design and development costs with minimal setup requirements.

Still confused?? Get a FREE consultation from our Magento Experts!

They will help you decide based on your business models and unique requirements.

They will help you decide based on your business models and unique requirements. Our Magento experts understand Hyvä vs Luma better and can guide you toward optimal performance for your online store.

Or you can just drop your question in the comment section. We will get back to you soon! 📩