Whether you’re taking a break from business, planning a rebrand, or simply reassessing your strategy, learning how to pause a Shopify store is a valuable option for store owners. Shopify understands that not every business operates continuously throughout the year, and they offer flexible plans to accommodate temporary downtime without needing to cancel your store entirely.
In this article, we’ll walk through how to pause your Shopify store step-by-step, when it’s the right move, what you’ll retain or lose during the pause, and what to do if you’re considering switching to another platform like WooCommerce during the transition.
Why Pause Instead of Cancel?
Shopify allows merchants to pause their store without deleting it. This feature is helpful for:
- Seasonal businesses closing during the off-season
- Business owners going on personal leave or vacation
- Brands rebranding or preparing for a relaunch
- Stores under development or testing without wanting to go live just yet
By pausing, you keep your website, products, and customer data intact. You don’t need to rebuild everything from scratch when you return.
At Best Website Builder Group, we often recommend this to clients who are redesigning their store or switching product lines, allowing them to keep backend access without public storefront activity.
The Two Options for Pausing a Shopify Store
Shopify offers two main options for pausing your store:
1. Pause and Build
This plan reduces your monthly subscription to a lower fee (currently around $9/month as of 2025) and allows you to:
- Access the admin panel
- Edit products, design, and settings
- Keep your store password protected
- Continue using apps and basic reports
However, checkout is disabled, meaning customers cannot place orders during this time.
This is ideal if you’re still working on your store behind the scenes but want to keep everything live internally. You’ll retain your site’s design, SEO structure, and app data while staying off the radar.
2. Pause Completely (Legacy Option)
Shopify used to offer a full Pause plan, where your store and admin were completely locked (with no monthly fee), but this has been deprecated or severely limited in many countries. Most merchants now use “Pause and Build” as the standard option.
If you’re unsure which options are available to you, consult the Shopify Help Center or speak with Shopify support for the latest updates.
How to Activate Pause and Build Mode
If you’re ready to pause, here’s how to do it:
- Log in to your Shopify Admin Panel
- Go to Settings → Plan
- Scroll down and click Deactivate Store
- Select Pause and Build
- Confirm your selection and agree to the new billing terms
Your store will remain online with a password-protected front, and checkout will be disabled.
It’s important to note that if you’re on a trial and haven’t selected a plan yet, the pause option won’t be available—you must first choose a plan and activate billing.
What Happens While Your Store Is Paused?
When you pause your Shopify store:
- Your public storefront is no longer accessible without a password
- Checkout is disabled (no sales can be processed)
- Most apps and themes remain intact
- You can edit and maintain all store settings, products, SEO, and design
- Your site remains hosted, and you retain your domain and URLs
This allows you to work in the background, test changes, and prepare for a relaunch.
If you’re working with a team like Best Website Builder Group, this period is ideal for development, migration, or SEO restructuring without customer interference.
Things to Consider Before Pausing
Billing & Subscriptions
While you’ll pay a reduced monthly fee, some third-party app subscriptions may continue billing separately. Always check your App Settings and cancel or pause individual services if necessary.
Email and Domain Forwarding
If you’re using a custom domain (e.g., mystore.com), pausing the store will not affect your domain registration. However, if you’re using Shopify Email or connected services, your email functionality may be limited. Consider forwarding important messages to a backup Gmail or business inbox temporarily.
SEO Implications
A paused store is not removed from Google, but its content may become less visible over time due to:
- Password protection
- Broken internal links (due to disabled checkout or hidden collections)
- Lack of fresh content or updates
To mitigate this, consider updating content, blogs, and metadata during the pause. You may also want to keep some pages—like an “About” or “Coming Soon” page—public to signal to search engines that your site is active.
Learn more about improving SEO during downtime in our article: Website Navigation & Website Structure (How to Improve SEO).
Alternatives to Pausing
If you’re not sure you want to pause but still want to limit customer activity, consider:
- Setting all products to Out of Stock
- Hiding products from collections and menus
- Password protecting only certain pages
- Temporarily disabling checkout via apps or code
This keeps the store technically live while reducing visibility or preventing purchases.
Considering a Switch to WooCommerce?
If you’re pausing your Shopify store with the intention of migrating to another platform, WooCommerce is often the top choice for merchants seeking more control, customization, or lower ongoing costs.
WooCommerce offers:
- Full WordPress integration
- No monthly fees beyond hosting
- Deep plugin ecosystem
- Better content management for blog-driven brands
- Open-source code for custom development
While the learning curve may be higher, it’s worth considering if you’re scaling a brand or want to cut down on monthly platform costs.
At Best Website Builder Group, we’ve helped countless merchants migrate from Shopify to WooCommerce successfully—preserving their product catalog, SEO structure, and customer data during the transition.
When to Close Instead of Pause
If you’re certain you won’t return to Shopify, or you’re planning to shut down permanently, then closing your store entirely might be the better path.
When you close:
- Your store is deleted after a grace period
- You lose access to the admin panel
- Your URL and assets are deactivated
- You stop all billing immediately
Only do this when you’re sure. If you’re unsure, pausing is the safer, reversible option.
Conclusion
Learning how to pause a Shopify store gives business owners the flexibility to step away without losing everything they’ve built. Whether you’re entering a slow season, shifting business models, or preparing for a platform switch, Shopify’s Pause and Build plan gives you time to make smart decisions without the pressure of monthly fees or site abandonment.
If you’re thinking long-term and want professional guidance—whether you’re redesigning, pausing, or migrating—Best Website Builder Group can help you map your next move strategically and efficiently.
