What Is Shopify's Pause and Build Plan for Temporarily Pausing Your Store?

When running a Shopify store, there are times when you want to temporarily pause sales—for example, during a seasonal closure or an inventory reorganization period. This is where the "Pause and Build" plan comes in handy. This article explains an overview of the Pause and Build plan and the specific steps for pausing and reactivating your store.

What Is the Pause and Build Plan?

The Pause and Build plan lets you temporarily pause your Shopify store while continuing store operations and management tasks. With this plan, you can access the admin and edit product information for a low monthly cost of $9, but the checkout feature is disabled, so customers cannot purchase products.

This is a suitable option, for example, for a seasonal store or when you want to temporarily stop selling.

Features of the Pause and Build Plan

The following features are available on the Pause and Build plan.

• Access to the admin
• Viewing basic site performance reports
• Displaying the online storefront
• Shopify Flow (*)
• Shopify apps (*)

However, the following features are not available.

• Online store checkout
• POS features
• Discount features
• Checkout abandonment recovery
• Gift cards
• Integration with external services such as Facebook and Google
• Shopify Email (*)

* These were not documented in the official documentation, but were confirmed by actually testing the Pause and Build plan.

Pause and Build Plan Pricing

The plan is available for $9 per month.

This is a significantly reduced rate compared to regular plans.

How to Pause Your Shopify Store

This section introduces how to switch to the Pause and Build plan.

1. Log in to the Shopify admin with the store owner account
2. From the Shopify admin, go to "Settings > Plan"
3. Click "Deactivate store"
4. Click the "Pause and Build" plan
5. Review the plan details, then click "Switch to Pause and Build"

Notes

Note 1: The following conditions must be met to switch to the Pause and Build plan.

• Not available for Shopify Plus stores
• The free trial period must have ended
• You must be subscribed to a paid plan
• You must be the store owner

Note 2: Apps remain active (and their subscriptions continue) even after pausing, so if you have any apps you no longer need, consider uninstalling them individually.

How to Reactivate Your Shopify Store

This section introduces how to switch from the Pause and Build plan to another plan.

1. Log in to the Shopify admin with the store owner account
2. From the Shopify admin, go to "Settings > Plan"
3. Click "Choose plan"
4. Click "Choose plan" for the plan you want (Basic plan or higher)
5. Review the plan details, then click "Start plan"

In Closing

The Pause and Build plan is a convenient plan that lets you keep managing your Shopify store at a low cost while temporarily pausing it. It's a particularly suitable option for a seasonal store or when you want to temporarily stop selling. However, keep in mind that the checkout feature is disabled, so customers cannot make purchases, and you'll need to choose a new plan when reactivating. Depending on your store's operating status and goals, make use of this plan to achieve efficient store management.

Finally, the blog article below thoroughly compares Shopify's pricing plans other than the Pause and Build plan. Please use it as a reference when choosing the right plan.

[2026 Latest] How to Choose a Shopify Pricing Plan | Differences in Costs, Fees, and Payment Methods
A thorough comparison of Shopify's Starter, Basic, Grow, Advanced, and Plus plans by price, fees, and features. A break-even simulation for card payment fees and transaction fees will help you find the plan that's best for your business.
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