Fast and Free Open-Source Magento 2 React-Luma Hyva Theme alternative

React-Luma Module is a Faster and Free Open-Source Hyva Alternative. Actually, you don’t even need to change the Theme. It works as a composer module to improve your existing theme without re-platforming to Hyva, or it can be used to improve Hyva.

React-Luma is 20% faster than any M2 front-end, including Hyva, today!

100% Vanilla.JS(no framework was used to improve performance) and default magento CSS without LESS compilation. However, it can be easily extended by any JS (ReactJS, VueJS) or CSS(Tilewind) library of your choice.

The React Magento module has been open source since 2019, years before Hyva’s release, when it became clear that the M2 is a failure and requires backend and frontend improvements. It is used by many, including Hyva, Breez, and Reat-Luma Theme (there is a stand-alone theme: https://github.com/Genaker/Luma-React-PWA-Magento-Theme).

The chart above shows Magento’s popularity over time, and we need to fix this by providing Open-Source solutions to fix Front and Back.

For the backend NodeJS(NodeJento), Python (PyGento), and GO(GoGento) microservices were introduced and became the base for the Adobe App Builder, but this article does not discuss them.

Many merchants wonder why backend optimization is necessary when Hyvä and agencies claim they can fix everything — Google Page Speed Score, traffic, and high-load performance. The reality is that Google Page Speed Score and Core Web Vitals (CWV) don’t reflect actual site performance. They mainly indicate that images load quickly without Layout shifts, but your website can still be slow and deliver a poor user experience.

The biggest issue in Magento 2 is the backend, not the frontend. However, Hyvä and agencies often create the misconception that simply changing the theme and using Varnish FPC cache can resolve all performance problems.

What professionals are thinking about this issue:

For example, a Magento site with a response time (TTFB) of over 4600ms (I intentionally added a 4-second delay in the code to simulate a slow page). Despite this, Google Page Speed Score still gives it a 98, yet the site remains sluggish. This proves that frontend optimizations alone are not enough — backend efficiency is critical.

You can see this even on the Hyva demo website. It is still slow :

A Good Page Score means nothing except you have a good score. Loading customers’ pages can still be harmful, especially with traffic.

React Luma works with any Magento 2 theme and doesn’t require re-platforming — just install the module via composer: composer require genaker/react-luma and slightly adjust your styles and features. All the magento modules work with React-Luma except JS part, but it is easy to fix by removing Require, jQuery and Knockout. Thank God most extensions are .phtml, except for checkout. We are not changing checkout. It works using legacy M2.

100% Free and Open-Source: No Scam, No Fees, No Licenses!

MAGENTO 2 LUMA PERFORMANCE VS HYVA Theme

Default Magento 2 Luma Performace without any changes:

Hyva Demo Performance:

As we can see, the Default Luma Theme, without any changes, already outperforms Hyva, except for one issue: the Largest Contentful Paint (LCF).

Magento 2 Largest Contentful Paint slow issue explained

There is a historical Magento 2 issue. It is outdated and uses Photorama JS product JS rendered gallery.

Photorama gallery! Fororama’s last release was in 2015, and it is now abandoned.

So to show a simple product image, magento needs to load all that require js crap. That's why it is slow. To make magento fast, we need just one fix. Replace gallery with Vanilla JS gallery without reusing janky Adobe JS. Interestingly, magento slow gallery doesn’t affect users' interaction with the website. It shows a placeholder image first and then replaces it with a JS gallery. Users can see images immediately, but silly Google Page Speed checks the final image DOM/HTML element, not a real user experience. You can replace the Magento gallery without disabling the default JS. However, this one is not recommended. We need to remove all the junk out of it!

So, let's install a React-Luma extension that fixes this issue. It removes all magento JS from the Product, Category, and CMS pages and adds Vanilla JS functionality and templates like a gallery.phtml to make the default Magento feature work.

composer require genaker/react-luma

That’s it! Go to magento admin Configuration->React-Luma Integration and turn on Adobes JS junk.

Also, disable ViewJS and ReactJS if you don’t wanna use them to build modern UI components.

Result With React Luma:

It has even more features to improve CSS by adding critical CSS (Penthouse) and removing unused CSS (PurifyCSS and UnCss) for category and product pages. Adobe CSS at PLP PDP pages includes Checkout and other unnecessary CSS. To purify CSS, you need to create a custom call in the pub and insert your files:

touch pub/static/styles-l.css
touch pub/static/styles-m.css

You can use this online tool to purify CSS.

Use Purify on build:

var content = ['**/src/js/*.js', '**/src/html/*.html'];
var css = ['**/src/css/*.css'];

var options = {
  // Will write purified CSS to this file.
  output: './dist/purified.css'
};

purify(content, css, options)

However, I found it worked well. However, this one is making more minor Css:

https://uncss-online.com/

Extract Critical CSS:

Critical Path CSS Generator

CSS is critical because it blocks rendering. https://github.com/pocketjoso/penthouse

Also, we have generated CSS for you in the module pub/static folder. However, it works well with Luma.

You don’t need to turn on this feature. It checks if files exist and automatically updates assets. If critical files exist, default magento junky CSS will be loaded non-blocking. It is recommended to use optimized CSS!

React-Luma has a 100% Default Magento 2 Layout and improves the front performance of any M2 theme, including Hyva, without costly migration and any license fee—the same layout XML files, the same .phtml templates, the same optimized CSS. React-Luma is compatible with any Magento extensions with minimal or no changes. B2B and Magento Enterprise-ready!

React-Luma test :

Hyva test:

You can see React Luma is 50% faster than Hyva!

Let's check another page:

Hyva Performance :

React Luma Performance:

Let's check the Breeze Theme:

Nothing can outperform React-Luma. You can use React-Luma to improve the Breeze Theme also.

Demo of the React-Luma theme you can find here:

Home Page

Some merchants asked to check how the React-Luma extension works with the popular but slow Magento 2 Porto Theme. I just installed the extension with the command “composer require genaker/ract-luma” and spent 30 minutes fixing some issues connected with the removed “footer” block and custom CSS and here is the result:

Magento 2 Porto Theme with React-Luma extension:

We can see even the Porto-based theme is faster than Hyva.

We can see here Luma is 2 times faster than Hyva. So, Hyva’s misleading information about outperforming other solutions by 250% is not 100% true.

React Luma: Built by U.S. and Ukrainian Magento Developers, Standing for Freedom

React Luma stands with a community that values freedom, open-source, integrity, and ethical business practices – without compromising on performance and innovation.