How to Cancel Your Shopify Subscription (2026 Guide)
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Short answer: in your Shopify admin go to Settings > Plan, click Cancel plan (or Cancel trial if you are still on the free trial), choose Cancel my plan and uninstall all apps, give a reason, enter your password and confirm. Only the store owner can do this. Your plan runs to the end of the current billing cycle, Shopify does not refund the unused days, and it keeps your store's data for 2 years in case you come back.
One thing has changed since our 2024 version of this guide: the cheap "Pause and Build" plan is no longer offered to new subscriptions, so for most stores the choice is now between cancelling and moving to a cheaper plan. Both are covered below.
What happens to each part of your store when you cancel
Cancelling the plan does not switch everything off for you. This table shows what Shopify does on its own and what you need to handle first.
| Part of your store | What happens when you cancel | What to do before you cancel |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify plan | Stops at the end of your current billing cycle. No refund for the unused part. | Nothing. Pick your timing if you are close to a renewal date. |
| Apps billed through Shopify | Uninstalled automatically. Any outstanding usage charges go on your final bill. | Export anything you keep inside an app (reviews, subscribers, bundles). |
| Apps billed outside Shopify | Not touched. They can keep charging you. | Cancel them directly with each app or service. |
| Domain bought from Shopify | Renewal is not cancelled. | Transfer it to another registrar or turn off auto-renewal. |
| Domain from another registrar | Stays registered and renewing with that registrar. | Remove it from Shopify and turn off auto-renewal there if you no longer need it. |
| Shopify Payments | Pending payouts still go out on your normal schedule. | Check there are no open disputes. You lose admin access to resolve issues. |
| Gift cards | Customers holding a balance can no longer spend it in your store. | Export a gift card CSV so you can settle balances. |
| Products, customers, orders | Kept by Shopify for 2 years. | Export CSV files and keep your own copy. |
| Your theme | Kept with the store data. | Download a copy if you may reuse it elsewhere. |
| myshopify.com address | Cannot be reused for a new store. | Nothing. A new store can use the same name with a different address. |
Before you cancel: a 10 minute checklist
- Export your data. Download CSV files for products, customers and orders, and download your theme from Online Store > Themes.
- Settle open orders. Fulfil or refund anything unfulfilled, including pre-orders and subscription orders.
- Export gift cards. If customers hold balances, export them so you can settle each one.
- Sort out your domain. A domain bought through Shopify keeps renewing after you cancel. Transfer it or turn off auto-renewal.
- List apps billed outside Shopify. Email tools, review platforms and others with their own billing keep charging until you cancel them.
- Check pending charges. App usage, transaction fees and shipping labels are charged on your final bill.
- Have your login ready. If you use two-step authentication, you need your device or recovery codes to sign in and confirm.
How to cancel your Shopify subscription step by step
On desktop
- Log in to your Shopify admin as the store owner.
- Go to Settings > Plan.
- Click Cancel plan. On a free trial the button reads Cancel trial.
- Shopify may show you cheaper plans first. Review them, or carry on.
- Review your Shopify domains and any pending charges.
- Select Cancel my plan and uninstall all apps, then click Continue.
- Pick a reason for leaving, add a comment if you like, and click Continue.
- Optionally tick Save payment details to reopen your store faster.
- Enter your password and click Cancel plan (or Cancel trial).
In the Shopify mobile app
Tap the menu, then Settings > Plan > Cancel plan (or Cancel trial), and follow the same prompts as on desktop.
On Shopify Plus
Plus stores cannot cancel from the admin. Contact Shopify Plus Support or your Customer Success Manager.
If you are not the store owner
Staff accounts cannot cancel, and for security reasons Shopify Support will not cancel a store for you. The owner has to do it, or transfer ownership to you first.
Source: Shopify Help Center, Deactivating your store.
Can you pause a Shopify store instead of cancelling?
Not in the way you used to. "Pause and Build" is now a legacy plan. Shopify's billing help says it is "no longer available to new subscriptions": stores already on it can stay, but nobody else can switch to it, and anyone who leaves it cannot go back.
The Starter plan is not a pause option either. It sells through social media and shareable product links rather than a full online store, and Shopify's help says a store that changes away from Starter "can't revert back to the Starter plan".
So if you want to keep the store but spend less, the realistic options look like this:
| Option | Cost | Store stays online? | Best when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cancel the plan | Nothing after the current billing cycle | No. Data kept for 2 years. | You are done with this store, or stopping for a long time |
| Move to the Basic plan | $39 a month billed monthly, or $29 a month billed yearly (US prices, checked July 2026) | Yes, you can still sell | You want to keep selling at a lower cost |
| Stay on Pause and Build | A reduced monthly fee | Storefront visible, checkout off | Only if your store is already on it |
Prices vary by country. Our Shopify plan cost calculator shows the plans side by side in USD, EUR, GBP and CAD, and you can check current prices on Shopify's pricing page.
Will you get a refund?
No. Shopify has a strict no-refund policy on subscription plans. Cancelling stops the next charge, it does not refund the current period. Your final invoice arrives at the end of the billing cycle with any outstanding app usage charges, transaction fees and shipping labels. If there is nothing outstanding, there is no final invoice. Source: Shopify Help Center, Billing considerations for pausing or deactivating a store.
How to reopen your store later
Shopify keeps your store's information for 2 years after you cancel. To come back within that window:
- Log in as the store owner.
- Click Re-open your-store.myshopify.com.
- Pick a plan.
- Enter your payment details under Review and Subscribe and click Subscribe.
- Reconnect a custom domain in Settings > Domains > Connect existing domain.
After 2 years the data is gone and you would start a new store from scratch.
If you are cancelling because sales are slow
It is worth one honest look before you close. If your store gets steady traffic but little revenue, order value is one place to check. Our guide to what a good average order value is on Shopify shows the benchmarks, and this guide to raising it covers the usual fixes. If none of that applies to your store, cancelling cleanly with the checklist above is the right call.
