How to pause your Shopify store (Pause and Build)
Need a break from selling but don’t want to lose your store? Shopify’s Pause and Build plan keeps your store and admin at a reduced fee, with checkout switched off. Here’s how it works, from Shopify’s help center.
Who can pause
- You must be the store owner.
- The store must be past its free trial and on a paid plan.
- Shopify Plus stores can’t use Pause and Build.
What stops
- Checkout on every sales channel, including Point of Sale. Customers can browse but can’t buy.
- Discounts, abandoned checkout recovery and gift cards.
- Third-party publishing integrations, such as Facebook and Google.
- You can still send draft order invoices, but they can’t be paid through checkout or the admin.
What keeps running
- Admin access — you can keep editing products.
- Basic reports and your online storefront (viewable, not shoppable).
- All your apps — and their charges. Shopify says apps stay active unless you cancel each one, so uninstall the ones you don’t need before pausing.
To hide your catalog too, edit the product page template, or turn on private mode to show a password page with your own message.
Timing: orders can still come in
The switch happens at the end of your current billing cycle. Until then, your store works as normal and keeps taking orders. If you want orders to stop now, turn on private mode first. (If you need a password page, see Shopify store not on Google for what private mode does to search engines.)
How to pause
- Log in as the store owner.
- Go to Settings → Plan.
- Click Cancel plan and enter your password.
- Click Cancel plan again, select Pause and build, review the details and confirm.
The same path works in the Shopify mobile app: Menu → Settings → Plan → Cancel plan.
How to unpause
Go to Settings → Plan, click Pick a plan, choose one and subscribe. Your old plan is no longer valid, so you choose a new one — check current prices first. If you set a store password while paused, remove it afterwards.
For billing details, see Shopify’s page on billing considerations for pausing or deactivating a store. To hide just a few products rather than the whole store, see hide a product on Shopify.