PWA Studio

PWA Studio is a set of tools and libraries developed by Adobe for building Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) for the Adobe Commerce platform. PWAs are fast, reliable, and engaging e-commerce apps that work offline, load fast and work on any device. Check out the technical specifications:

Headless

• Styling: Tailwind
• Dynamic Content: React
• Server Side Rendering: Upward middleware
• Maintenance: Bimonthly releasesF

PWA Studio is an autonomous piece of software, communicating with Magento via GraphQL. Although you have a lot of flexibility when implementing a Frontend with PWA Studio, it usually requires more time and effort to achieve optimal results than with a typical Magento Frontend framework. While PWA Studio supports full Adobe Commerce functionality (including the B2B suite), most third party extensions don’t support PWA Studio.

PWA advantages include:

• Behaves like a native app
• Works offline
• Applies all Adobe Commerce features
• Works fast on mobile devices
• Delivers push notifications

Luma / Ready Template

Luma is the default Magento 2 Frontend framework. It is built using Bootstrap and designed to be a stable, responsive and easy-to-customize Magento theme. Here are its technical specifications:

Non-headless

• Styling: CSS
• Dynamic content: RequireJS, Knockout, jQuery, custom Javascript framework built on top of Knockout and RequireJS 
• Server Side Rendering: XML and PHP templates
• Maintenance: Bugfixes published with quarterly Magento core updates

 Luma theme advantages include:

• Native Adobe product
• Fully-compatible with all available Magento 2 extensions
• Easy to find a support team
• Easy to make any changes/customisations and core upgrades

In addition, hundreds of ready themes and templates for Magento can be found on Themeforest.net

You can read about our favorites and how to choose the best one in our classic article, Choosing the right Magento 2 Theme for your Online Store.

Most of the ready Magento themes and templates are built using Luma and its Bootstrap framework, making them both highly responsive and rich in advanced functionality. One of these ready themes is bound to be a good fit for your webstore. Here are the technical specifications which characterize most of these templates:

• Non-headless
• Styling: CSS
• Dynamic content: RequireJS, Knockout, jQuery, custom Javascript framework built on top of Knockout and RequireJS 
• Server Side Rendering: XML and PHP templates
• Maintenance: Bugfixes published with quarterly Magento core updates but some extra fixes are required
• Additional features and modules can be added to Luma

Ready template advantages include:

• Easy to find and adapt to the business and product
• Quick to implement and launch
• Compatible with most Magento 2 extensions (small fixes/changes will be required)
• Small cost for the theme and mostly easy to install

Hyvä

Created in 2020, Hyvä is a Frontend framework that allows developers to build fast and efficient e-commerce websites. It uses the same backend functionality as Luma but resolves Luma’s performance issues by replacing superfluous JavaScript files and bloated libraries with one single JavaScript framework, Alpine.js. In addition, Hyvä’s Tailwind CSS framework reduces CSS output by over 90%. These innovations result in a lightning-fast Frontend that typically achieves 90 to 100 Google Lighthouse points:

• Non-headless
• Styling: Tailwind
• Dynamic Content: AlpineJS
• Server Side Rendering: XML and PHP templates
• Maintenance: Monthly releases with backwards compatibility
• License fee of €1.000 to use the Hyvä theme

Hyvä’s numerous Advantages include:

• Lightning-fast speed on mobile devices
• Compatible with Magento Open Source and Adobe Commerce
• Does not require a fresh install of Magento 2 if you have an existing Magento 2 website
• Relatively quick development time. Because Hyvä contains less bloat and presents dedicated components for each area of Frontend output, developers spend less time battling superfluous code to achieve modifications
• Easy to maintain. Hyvä’s lean code means changes to the default Magento codebase do not disrupt the theme during upgrades 
• Future-proof. Although Hyvä does not support all Adobe Commerce features and the B2B Suite yet, many features are already supported and compatibility with third party extensions is constantly advancing.

Which Solution is Right for You?

Despite our vast knowledge of Magento and other e-commerce platforms, we have no simple answer to this one; simply put, every project is unique. Therefore, the following recommendations depend entirely on your specific requirements: 

Case 1: Smaller budget, more features, less time?

If you want numerous features on a smaller budget with less development time, or want many third party extensions not yet compatible with Hyvä, Ready Theme or template is probably your best bet.

Case 2: Special requirements, custom unique design, middle budget?

Luma is a native Magento theme that is easy-to-customize and support. With the right development team you can get a unique website and good performance from Luma but it will take time and a reasonable budget to get the best results.

Case 3: Great performance, quick implementation, simple and clear frontend?

For most projects, we recommend using Hyvä as your Frontend framework. Hyvä is a theme created to enhance your Magento eCommerce store’s performance and speed. Hyvä’s lean code base and burgeoning tech stack typically results in brisk implementation, instantly offsetting the €1.000 licensing fee. The huge additional plus is Hyvä’s eye-watering speed, especially on mobile devices. In this competitive age, a fast webstore generates more sales.

Case 4: Special Requirements, New Technology, Mobile Focus, Plenty of Time?

PWAs are the main alternative to Hyvä when a fast mobile shopping experience is required. While Hyvä’s primary focus is speed and minimal code, PWAs focus on providing a richer,  app-like shopping experience. PWA Studio is still a niche product and PWA solutions generally require more effort, money and time to implement. If you want to use every Adobe Commerce feature (including the B2B Suite), a PWA might be right for you. 

Need Help Choosing your Best Solution?

As Magento specialists, Luxinten are well-versed in all aspects of webstore development. To discuss your current e-commerce needs, contact us today.

Some Key Luxinten Statistics:

• 50+ projects with annual support
• 30+ successful full Magento 2 migrations
• 250+ solutions implemented on Magento
• 99% customer retention rate
• Adobe Certified Experts

If you want to know more about any of our services, please contact us.