Every few months a store owner asks me whether they should "go headless with Hydrogen". Sometimes the answer is yes. More often it's "not yet". Here's how to tell, from someone who builds both Liquid themes and Hydrogen storefronts.
What "headless Shopify" means
A normal Shopify store uses a theme: Shopify stores your products, runs the checkout and also renders your storefront pages from Liquid templates. A headless store splits that in two. Shopify still handles products, inventory, cart and checkout (the "body"), but your storefront (the "head") is a separate application that fetches data from Shopify through the Storefront API.
What Shopify Hydrogen is
Hydrogen is Shopify's own framework for building that separate storefront. It's built on React and React Router (the framework formerly known as Remix) and comes with Shopify-specific pieces: cart handling, product and collection components, caching tools and SEO helpers. You can host it on Oxygen, Shopify's hosting for Hydrogen storefronts, or on another platform.
Hydrogen vs a Liquid theme
| Aspect | Liquid theme | Hydrogen storefront |
|---|---|---|
| Who builds it | Theme developer | React developer who knows Shopify |
| Editing | Visual theme editor | A headless CMS or metaobjects; less visual |
| Design freedom | High within sections and blocks | Total |
| Apps | Most Shopify apps work out of the box | Many theme apps need custom integration |
| Build cost | Lower | Higher: it's custom software |
| Maintenance | Theme updates | Code you own and maintain |
When Hydrogen is worth it
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You need experiences a theme can't deliver: complex product configurators, rich interactive content, or a fully custom browsing flow.
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Content from another system (a CMS, a database, a booking tool) must live on the same pages as products.
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You run several storefronts, languages or brands from one catalog with very different front ends.
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You have, or will pay for, developers to maintain a codebase over time.
When it isn't (yet)
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Your store mostly needs better design, a few custom sections and fewer apps. A well-built theme does that for far less.
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You rely on many theme apps for reviews, upsells and subscriptions, and don't want to rebuild those integrations.
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Your main goal is speed. A lean, well-built theme is already fast. Headless can be faster, but only when it's built carefully.
What it costs
Expect a Hydrogen build to cost several times a theme build, because you're commissioning an application, not customizing a template. Oxygen hosting is included with most paid Shopify plans. Budget too for ongoing development, because headless stores need a developer for changes a theme editor would handle.
A simple test
Write down the three things your current theme stops you doing. If a theme developer could solve them with custom sections, stay on a theme. If they genuinely need a custom application, Hydrogen is worth a serious look.
Not sure which side you're on? I build both and I'll tell you honestly which one your store needs.