Once a team accepts that the legacy Luma frontend is the reason their Magento 2 store fails Core Web Vitals, the next question is always money and time. Hyva has a reputation for being faster and cheaper than a full headless rebuild, and that reputation is fair, but “cheaper than headless” is not a budget. The actual number depends on how complex your storefront is, how much custom frontend you carry, and whether you treat the migration as a clean reset or a like-for-like port.
The comparison that anchors expectations is Hyva against headless. Hyva typically ships in 8 to 14 weeks, against 16 to 24 weeks for a full headless rebuild, and lands well below the $90,000 to $200,000 range that a headless project often reaches, according to Magento PWA and frontend cost analysis from MGT Commerce. For most mid-market stores, that shorter timeline and lower cost is exactly why Hyva has become the default performance path.
What does a Hyva migration actually cost?
A Hyva migration costs less than a headless rebuild and varies mainly with storefront complexity, the volume of custom frontend, and how many third-party modules need Hyva-compatible work. A relatively standard catalog storefront with modest customization sits at the lower, faster end. A store with heavy custom Luma theming, many frontend-touching extensions, and bespoke checkout logic moves up, because each of those needs to be rebuilt or replaced in the Hyva approach rather than carried over.
The single biggest cost driver is custom frontend code. Hyva replaces Luma’s Knockout and RequireJS stack with Alpine.js and Tailwind, so anything built against the old stack does not simply transfer. That is not waste, it is the source of the performance gain, but it means the estimate tracks how much custom frontend you have. Third-party modules matter too: extensions that render on the frontend need Hyva-compatible versions or adaptation. A clear-eyed Hyva theme migration scopes both before quoting, which is how you avoid the mid-project surprise of a module that has no Hyva path.
How long does a Hyva migration take?
A Hyva migration usually takes 8 to 14 weeks, with the range driven by the same complexity factors that move the cost. A focused rebuild of a standard storefront lands toward the shorter end. A large catalog with extensive custom components, multiple templates, and many integrations runs longer, because each piece has to be rebuilt and tested. The timeline is shorter than headless largely because Hyva stays within Magento’s native structure rather than splitting the frontend into a separate application.
Sequencing affects the calendar as much as scope. Treating the migration as a chance to reset, dropping unused components, tightening templates, fixing the layout-shift and image issues that hurt Core Web Vitals, adds focused work but produces a genuinely faster store. Treating it as a pixel-for-pixel port of the old theme is faster to plan and slower to pay off. The teams that get the most from the timeline use it to rebuild well, not just to rebuild fast, which is the difference between a store that passes Core Web Vitals and one that only looks modern.
Is Hyva the right spend versus headless?
Hyva is the right spend for most mid-market stores that need strong performance without a separate frontend application, and headless is justified only when you need its specific flexibility. Hyva delivers most of the measurable Core Web Vitals gain, ships faster, and costs less, while keeping the frontend inside Magento where your team can maintain it. For the majority of stores, that is the better return.
Headless earns its higher cost and longer timeline when you genuinely need a fully decoupled, brand-bespoke frontend, multi-channel delivery from one backend, or a frontend that evolves independently of Magento upgrades. Those are real needs for some businesses, but they are not most businesses, and paying headless prices for a store that only needs to be fast is overspending. Map the requirement honestly first, the same discipline that should drive any Magento platform decision, and Hyva is the answer more often than not.
