↗
“Working with Creative Labs has been a game-changer for our business.”
Read full quote
Poplar Forest Nursery TeamPoplar Forest Nursery
HYDROGEN · HEADLESS
Hydrogen storefronts for stores that need sub-second.
Seavoir · 0.8s mobile LCP on Hydrogen
STACK
Remix + React on Oxygen
BEST FOR
Big catalogs, custom UX, content-heavy stores
BUILD TIME
12 to 20 weeks
HOSTING
Oxygen, included with Plus
WHO EDITS
Developers; content in Sanity or metaobjects
WHY HYDROGEN
When headless is worth it.
01
Speed you can measure
Server-rendered on Oxygen’s edge, sub-second LCP on mobile without fighting a theme.
02
UX a theme can’t do
Configurators, search, personalisation and layouts beyond Liquid sections.
03
Content from a real CMS
Sanity or metaobjects feed the storefront; editors publish without code.
04
Checkout stays on Shopify
Shop Pay, Functions and Extensibility, untouched.
WHICH ONE
Hydrogen vs a theme vs Astro
Honest answer: most stores under $1M a year don’t need more than Shopify.
Shopify theme
Hydrogen
This pageAstro + Shopify
Best for
Most DTC stores
Big catalogs, custom UX
Content-heavy stores
Who edits pages
Your team, in the customizer
Developers; CMS for content
Content in Sanity
Time to launch
6–8 weeks
12–20 weeks
8–12 weeks
Mobile speed
Depends on apps
Sub-second on Oxygen
Sub-second, static
Hosting
Shopify
Oxygen (included)
Vercel / Netlify / Cloudflare
Cost
From $10,000
From $25,000
From $18,000
SERVICES ON HYDROGEN
What we do on Hydrogen.
Headless builds
Hydrogen on Oxygen with Sanity, in your repo.
Learn more →
Theme to Hydrogen
Move a theme store to headless without losing a URL.
Learn more →
Performance
Field-measured Core Web Vitals, budgets in CI.
Learn more →
Search & discovery
Algolia or Shopify search with real filtering.
Learn more →
Next.js apps
Portals and tools beside the storefront.
Learn more →
Markets
Localized storefronts per market.
Learn more →
PROOF
What Hydrogen did for the stores we built.
0.8s
Mobile LCP (Seavoir)
99/100
Lighthouse performance
5,000+
SKUs served sub-second
12
Weeks to launch
Words from the brands we've built for
↗
“Creative Labs has elevated our online presence to a whole new level.”
Read full quote
Care Hope College AdministrationCare Hope College
↗
“Creative Labs exceeded our expectations in delivering a secure, user-friendly platform.”
Read full quote
Cellocity TeamCellocity
FREE STORE SPEED TEST
Test your store’s speed on real phones
Enter your store URL and get field Core Web Vitals, the heaviest scripts and the three fixes we’d make first.
Run the speed test →FREE SEO & AEO CHECKER
Check your new Shopify store for AI answers
See if ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews can find, read and cite your store.
Run the checker →FAQ
Questions about Hydrogen
Not sure which plan you need?
We’ll look at your store on a 30-minute call.
Book a callIs Hydrogen only for Plus?
No. Hydrogen and Oxygen hosting are available on paid Shopify plans, not only Plus. Plus matters if you also need its checkout, B2B or market features.
Can our team still edit content?
Yes. Content lives in Sanity or Shopify metaobjects, so editors publish pages and products without code.
What happens to our apps on headless?
Apps that work through Shopify's admin, checkout or APIs keep working. Apps that inject code into a theme need a headless-compatible version or a custom integration, so we check every app before recommending headless.
Hydrogen or Astro?
Hydrogen for storefronts that are mostly product and need commerce features built in; Astro for content-led sites where most pages are static. See Astro vs Next.js for the trade-offs.
How much does a Hydrogen build cost?
Headless builds are scoped individually and cost more than a theme build, which starts at $10,000. You get one fixed price after an audit. See pricing or the website cost calculator.
You've reached the end, so now…
Tell us what you're selling.
Send us your store. Within one business day you get a short Loom from a senior: the three things we'd fix first, what it would cost, and whether we're the right team for it.
- No pitch deck, no discovery-call theatre
- You keep the audit whether or not you hire us
- Fixed-scope quotes, no hourly surprises
Prefer to talk? Book 20 minutes with Haniel or call +1 855-764-4977