Do I need headless (Hydrogen) to make my store fast?

No — a well-built Liquid theme can hit mobile 90+ and sub-2.5s LCP. Most 'slow Shopify' stores are slow because of heavy apps, unoptimized images, and bloated page-builder themes, not because of Liquid itself. Fix those and the speed problem usually disappears at a fraction of the cost.

Headless/Hydrogen can be faster at the edge and unlocks custom UX, but it's a much bigger build and ongoing maintenance commitment. Reach for it when you genuinely need custom front-end behavior or edge personalization — not as a speed shortcut.