What is Hyvä Checkout and how does it differ from the Hyvä theme?
Hyvä Checkout vs Hyvä Theme is one of the most common points of confusion in Magento project scoping, since Hyvä Checkout and Hyvä Theme are two different products made by the same company. Hyvä Theme is the free, open source frontend that replaced Magento’s default Luma storefront. Hyvä Checkout is a separate, paid module that replaces Magento’s default checkout, and it does not automatically come with a Hyvä Theme installation or the other way around.
Quick answer
- Hyvä Theme has been free and open source since November 2025.
- Hyvä Checkout is a separate product, priced at €1,000 as a one-time license.
- The Hyvä Checkout license includes a free Hyvä Theme license.
- A store can run Hyvä Theme without ever installing Hyvä Checkout.
- Hyvä Checkout can run via “Theme Fallback” mode even on a store that is not using Hyvä Theme.
What Hyvä Theme is
Hyvä Theme is a full replacement for Magento’s Luma frontend. It strips out Knockout.js, RequireJS, jQuery UI widgets, and LESS from the storefront, and rebuilds templates using server rendered PHP, Tailwind CSS for styling, and Alpine.js for the small amount of interactivity a storefront actually needs. The result is a much lighter page than Luma produces, which is the main reason merchants adopt it.
The core theme itself became free and open source in November 2025. Before that it required a paid license per store. Some related products built around the theme, like Hyvä UI and prebuilt design systems, are still separate paid add-ons on top of the free core.
What Hyvä Checkout is
Hyvä Checkout is a distinct product built on Magewire, a PHP driven component framework the Hyvä team describes as a port of Laravel’s Livewire pattern, rather than being built the same way the rest of Hyvä Theme is.
Hyvä Checkout costs €1,000 as a one-time license fee, according to Hyvä’s official pricing page. That fee includes a free Hyvä Theme license, one year of support and updates, and covers a single Magento 2 installation across unlimited domains and storeviews. After the first year, keeping support and updates going costs either €250 a year or another €1,000 for a five-year all-in bundle.
That license also scopes down to individual store views, so a rollout doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing. Checkout can run on some store views while another checkout solution stays active elsewhere, and it can run through a Theme Fallback mode on a store that isn’t using Hyvä Theme as its main frontend at all. If you’re trying to work out whether that kind of scoping makes sense for your store, our Magento development team can help you map it out before you commit to a license.
Hyvä Checkout vs Hyvä Theme: Key Differences at a Glance
In short, Hyvä Theme is the free frontend and Hyvä Checkout is the paid checkout layer that can optionally run on top of it.
| Hyvä Theme | Hyvä Checkout | |
|---|---|---|
| What it replaces | Luma frontend (category, product, cart, account pages) | Default Magento checkout flow |
| Cost | Free, open source since November 2025 | €1,000 one-time license, includes year one support |
| Built on | Server rendered templates, Tailwind CSS, Alpine.js | Magewire (PHP component framework) |
| Needs the other product? | Runs fine without Hyvä Checkout | License includes a free Theme license, and it can run via Theme Fallback without it |
Related Answers
Was this answer helpful?
Your feedback helps us improve our answers.
Still need help?
Sorting out your Hyvä licensing?
If you're weighing whether your project actually needs Hyvä Checkout on top of Hyvä Theme, we can scope it against your real checkout numbers before you commit to a license.