Hire a Hyvä developer when you are past the "should we migrate?" question and into "who actually writes the code?". This page is the answer to that second question. I work with Magento Open Source and Adobe Commerce merchants who want Hyvä-grade speed without an agency contract - a single Adobe-Certified engineer, hourly or fixed-fee, billed at one published rate.

Why hire a Hyvä developer instead of a Magento generalist?

Hyvä is a full frontend rewrite of the Magento storefront - it drops Knockout.js, the heavy require.js dependency graph, and most of Luma's LESS in exchange for Alpine.js, Tailwind CSS, and a deliberately small module surface. A Magento generalist who has never shipped a Hyvä build will copy Luma patterns into Hyvä and end up with a slower, harder-to-maintain storefront than the one you started with.

A Hyvä developer knows the differences that matter on day one: which Magento extensions ship Hyvä-compatible modules, which ones need a fallback layout, how Hyvä Checkout's React component tree replaces the Magento UI Component layer, how to wire magewire for live regions, and where Tailwind's purge step quietly drops classes you needed. That knowledge is the difference between a 90+ Lighthouse score and a botched migration that you pay twice for.

I have been writing Magento code since 2017 and Hyvä code since the theme went public. I keep the Hyvä compatibility checker updated and publish migration walkthroughs at the Luma to Hyvä migration playbook. When you hire me, you get the person who wrote those references.

What does a Hyvä developer actually do?

A Hyvä developer turns a Magento store into a fast, accessible, Tailwind-first storefront - and keeps it that way. The day-to-day work breaks down into six categories, and on most engagements I touch all six in the first month.

How much does a Hyvä developer cost?

My published hourly rate is $25/hr. That is the only hourly figure on this site, and it does not change based on agency routing, location, or how big your brand is. Below is how that rate scales across the three engagement models I offer.

Engagement	Scope	Cost	Best for
Hyvä audit (fixed)	20-page Hyvä-readiness review: extension matrix, performance baseline, migration cost estimate.	$499 (~20h @ $25/hr)	Pre-migration decisions, board-level sign-off.
Hyvä sprint (fixed)	Two-week sprint: theme conversion of a section (PDP, checkout, category) or Core Web Vitals fix pass.	$2,499 (~100h @ $25/hr)	Targeted slice of a bigger Hyvä project.
Hourly	Ad-hoc Hyvä bug fixes, small features, code review.	$25/hr, billed weekly	Existing Hyvä site, no fixed scope.
Retainer	40h or 80h per month, reserved capacity, Slack/email access.	~40h @ $25/hr or ~80h @ $25/hr	Brands shipping continuously on Hyvä.

Why so much cheaper than a typical Hyvä agency quote? I work solo, from Ahmedabad, India, with no project manager layer, no salesperson, and no "resource manager" overhead. The agency rate has to fund those people. Mine does not. You can read more on Magento developer in India for why that math works out.

What is included in my fixed-fee Hyvä packages?

Fixed-fee scopes are the ones I most often book, because they let merchants approve a number before any code is written. Each one is built around a single artefact you can hand to your stakeholders.

$499 Hyvä audit (~20h @ $25/hr)

• Full extension inventory cross-referenced against the Hyvä compatibility list.
• Lighthouse and PageSpeed Insights baseline on five key URLs (home, category, PDP, cart, checkout).
• Core Web Vitals field data pull from Chrome UX Report (last 28 days).
• Concrete migration cost estimate broken into theme, checkout, extensions, QA, launch.
• 20-page PDF report and 1-hour walkthrough call.

$2,499 Hyvä sprint (~100h @ $25/hr)

• Two-week focused build window with one named outcome (PDP converted to Hyvä, Core Web Vitals to green, Hyvä Checkout shipped).
• Daily commits to your repo, staging deploys, end-of-day Loom updates.
• QA checklist completed before handoff, including mobile Lighthouse, INP probe, and screenshot diffs.
• Documentation written in-repo so the next developer (mine or yours) has context.

For larger projects (full migrations, multi-store rollouts), I scope as a series of $2,499 sprints rather than a single number. That keeps you in control: pause between sprints, re-prioritize, swap me out - whatever the project needs.

How do you compare to a Hyvä agency?

Agencies are the right answer in some situations - usually when you need a designer, a project manager, a QA team, and three developers running in parallel for a hard deadline. They are the wrong answer when the work fits one person and you do not want to pay for the org chart. Here is how the trade-off looks side-by-side.

	Hire me (solo)	Hyvä agency
Hourly rate	$25/hr	$75 - $200/hr (often higher in EU/US)
Who writes the code	Me, every commit.	Mid-level developer; senior reviews.
Project manager overhead	None - you talk to the developer.	10 - 20% of budget.
Onboarding time	~2 days (kickoff + repo access).	2 - 4 weeks (discovery, contracts).
Multiple parallel devs	No.	Yes.
Adobe-Certified developer on every PR	Yes - me.	Sometimes only on the proposal.

If you fit the left column, hire me. If you fit the right, hire an agency. I will tell you that directly on the intro call if your project is agency-shaped - I have turned down work that did not fit, and I would rather refer you out than burn three months of your budget. See the Hyvä theme development service for the full delivery view.

What is the engagement process from intro call to launch?

Every engagement runs through the same five steps. The point of the structure is to make sure you have an exit at every step - you are never locked into a long contract before you have proof I can deliver.

1. Intro call (30 min, free). You describe the problem, I describe the approach. If we are not a fit, I refer you out.
2. Audit or sprint proposal (24h). Fixed scope, fixed price, written deliverable. No surprise change orders.
3. Kickoff (day 1). Repo access, staging access, Magento admin access, Slack channel. I work transparently in your tools.
4. Build (1 - 2 weeks per sprint). Daily commits, daily Loom updates, weekly invoice. You see progress every workday.
5. Handoff plus 14- warranty. Bugs introduced by my code are fixed free. After that, it is hourly or retainer if you want me to stay on.

To start, book a 30-minute call via my hire-me page, or message me directly on Upwork. If you want the longer story of who I am and how I work, read the about page.

Frequently asked questions

Are you available right now?

My calendar updates weekly. The fastest way to check is to book an intro call - if I cannot start within two weeks, I will tell you on the call and refer you to a developer I trust.

Do you sign NDAs and IP-assignment agreements?

Yes. Standard mutual NDA, work-for-hire IP assignment on signed contract. Send your paper or I will send a standard template.

What time zone do you work in?

I am based in Ahmedabad, India (IST / UTC+5:30). I overlap 3 - 5 hours daily with Europe and 1 - 2 hours with the US East Coast, and I shift schedule for clients on either coast when needed.

Can you work inside our existing repo and CI pipeline?

Yes - Git, GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, plus Composer-based deploys, MageCloud, n98-magerun, deployer.org. I work in your tools, not mine.

Do you handle Hyvä Checkout customizations?

Yes - including custom payment methods, address validation, shipping rules, GA4/GTM events, and post-purchase upsells. Hyvä Checkout's React tree is part of every engagement that touches checkout.

Will the same developer be on my project the whole time?

Yes. I work solo. Every commit, every standup, every code review is mine. No junior swap-outs, no "resource changes mid-project".

Do you do full Luma-to-Hyvä migrations?

Yes. I scope migrations as a series of fixed-fee sprints rather than a single quote. See how I migrate Luma stores to Hyvä for the full playbook.

What happens if you get sick or take a holiday?

For retainer clients, I publish my time-off calendar a quarter in advance and front-load work before any break. For fixed-fee sprints, the deadline shifts by however long I am out - I do not subcontract to cover it.

Can I hire you alongside my in-house team?

Yes, and most of my retainers run that way. I act as the Hyvä specialist alongside in-house generalist developers, code-review their PRs, and own the Hyvä-specific work.