How to Cancel Shopify Subscription in 2026

If you want to cancel your Shopify subscription, but are wondering how to do it, you’re not alone. This is an easy thing to do, be it to change platforms, to stop trading or even to save money but before you pull the trigger, there are a couple of things you should know; you can be charged when you don’t intend to or even lose all your data. 

To cancel your Shopify store, you need to be logged in as the store owner – staff accounts cannot terminate your Shopify store. It takes less than five minutes: click Settings → Plan → Cancel Subscription; confirm your cancellation reason and enter your password. First, download your data – your store will be deleted at the end of the 90-day period, and you will lose it.

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Key takeaways

• Cancellation of a Shopify subscription cannot be done by staff accounts, but by the store owner.
• Have to cancel before the next billing date to ensure you are not charged for another cycle.
• To prevent paying extra charges, you can export your data and cancel running apps and domains in advance.
• When your store is cancelled in Shopify, it will freeze for 90 days, and then it will be gone forever.

How to Cancel Shopify Subscription in 6 Steps

Canceling your Shopify subscription takes just a few minutes when you know exactly where to go. Log in as the store owner – staff accounts don’t have permission to close a Shopify account – and follow the steps below.

Step 1: Log in to your Shopify admin panel. Visit the admin dashboard of your store at yourstore.myshopify.com/admin and use your store’s owner password to sign in.

Step 2: Go to Settings. You will go to the bottom-left panel of your admin page and then click on Settings.

Step 3: Navigate to Plan. Within the settings, you will find the option of plan, your available subscription details, billing cycle, and plan management options.

Step 4: Click “Cancel subscription.” Scroll down on the Plan page until you see the option to cancel your subscription. Click it to begin the cancellation process.

Step 5: Choose a reason and confirm. Shopify will ask you to select a reason for canceling. 

Step 6: Type your password. Enter it to complete the cancellation. You’ll receive a confirmation email once your subscription has been successfully canceled.

Things to Do Before Canceling Shopify Subscription

Cancelling without prior preparations may bring about the loss of data, unexpected fees, or difficulties in the future. Before you close your Shopify account, take some minutes to go through this checklist.

• Export your store data. To get your products, customers, and order history as CSV files, go to Settings and Export. This information is lost forever after your store has been deleted.
• Unsubscribe from all third-party apps. Independently billed apps are those installed via the Shopify App Store. Requesting a cancellation of your plan does not automatically cancel it with Shopify.
• Discontinue or transfer your own domain. If you bought a domain via Shopify or attached one from a third-party registrar, do not forget to move or unattach it when canceling.
• Pay off any arrears. Shopify will not allow cancellation when one has an outstanding balance. Before doing so, clear all the open invoices in the Billing section of your admin.
• Save theme and customization. You can back up or export your current theme in case you believe that it will be used again on another platform or if you want to reopen your store later.
• Notify your customers. If your customers are already active in your store, it is a good practice to inform them that you are closing down. This helps to avoid confusion and guard your brand name.

Taking care of these steps also helps if you’re trying to how to cancel all subscriptions associated with your online business at once – a subscription management app can help you track and cancel recurring charges from apps, tools, and services in one place.

What Happens After You Cancel a Shopify Subscription

Better knowing what is going to happen can assist you in planning the next step, particularly in case there is a possibility that you may wish to revisit the platform in the future.

1. Your store goes into a 90-day hiatus. Shopify does not terminate your shop as soon as you cancel. As an alternative, you have one month of inactivity in a suspended state of 90 days before your store is deactivated.
2. Your store is deleted permanently after 90 days. Failure to reactivate in 90 days ensures that all your store data, including products, customer records, order history, and settings, is destroyed forever on Shopify. This cannot be undone.
3. You lose access to your admin. After the cancellation of the subscription, you will not be able to access your Shopify admin panel to make any changes or fetch data. And that is the reason why it is so necessary to export all the things in advance.
4. Active App billing can be maintained. As noted earlier, third-party applications charge on their own. When you have not canceled them, then even after you close your account, you may still receive bills from app developers, despite your Shopify store being not operational.
5. Waiting payouts will remain in place. Shopify Payments will continue to issue you with any pending payouts on the date of payment. Pending payouts are still delivered.

How to Avoid Shopify Charges After Cancellation

Unexpected billing is one of the most frequent pieces of feedback after a subscription is canceled in Shopify. This is how to ensure that you are not charged once you have made the decision to quit.

1. Cancel before your billing date. Shopify charges upfront, and if you cancel in the middle of the cycle, you will not get a prorated refund of days remaining, but again, you will not be charged again.
2. Before cancelling, remove all the third-party applications. Open Apps in your administration and uninstall all apps. Then log into each app separately and make sure that they have canceled the subscription on their side.
3. Unaffiliated paid Shopify services. Provided you have used Shopify Email, Shopify Markets, or other paid add-ons that are not included in the base plan, they might have their own expenses.
4. In case you purchased a domain using Shopify, it will be automatically renewed annually.
5. Keep track of your bank accounts. Watch out for your statements 30 days later, even after cancellation.

Alternatives to Canceling Shopify Subscription

Before you fully close your Shopify account, it’s worth considering whether one of these options might better fit your situation — especially if you’re dealing with a temporary problem rather than a permanent one.

Switch to the Starter Plan. If your main concern is cost, the Shopify Starter plan is available for $5 per month. This is a low-cost option that lets you sell through social media and messaging apps without maintaining a full storefront.

Pause your store. If you need a break, the Pause and Build plan costs $9 per month. It allows you to keep your store admin accessible and your storefront online (though the checkout is disabled) while you work on your site. 

Downgrade your plan. If you are on the “Shopify” ($105/mo) or “Advanced” ($399/mo) tiers, downgrading to the Basic plan at $39 per month can significantly reduce overhead while keeping all core features. 

Switch platforms without canceling first. If you’re moving to another ecommerce platform, it’s smart to get your new store fully set up and tested.

Address the root issue. Sometimes the desire to cancel is driven by a specific pain point – high transaction fees, lack of a particular feature, or frustration with customer support.

How to Reactivate Your Shopify Store

You can quickly reopen your Shopify store in case it has been less than 90 days since you cancelled your subscription. 

Step 1: Login to your Shopify page. Go to shopify.com and use the same email and password as to your store. 

Step 2: Choose a plan. Once you log-in, Shopify will allow you to select a subscription plan with which to reopen your store. 

Step 3: Set up billing. Recover by providing them with payment details. 

Step 4: Review apps and configuration. Once you have gotten back online, it is important to ensure that your applications have been linked, payment gateways are enabled, and all shipping calculation settings are in place. 

In case you have canceled and 90 days have elapsed, then your store data has been lost forever and cannot be restored. Then you would have to create another Shopify store.

Final Thoughts

If you are looking to cancel your Shopify subscription, it’s a simple process but it takes some attention to detail to make sure you don’t lose your progress. By successfully exporting your data, removing third-party apps and handling your store’s domain, you can cancel your subscription without fear of unexpected fees or lost information. Whether you’re switching platforms or taking a break, be sure to decide on your final course of action before the 90-day deactivation period ends, to avoid locking yourself out of future options.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will I receive a refund when canceling my Shopify subscription?

Shopify does not usually provide refunds on subscription charges, according to their Terms of Service. Fees are charged up front, so cancelling in the middle of the cycle means you will have the service until the end of the cycle, but no partial refund.

Will I lose my domain if I cancel Shopify?

If you purchased your domain from Shopify, you retain ownership, but you need to transfer your domain to another provider or manage it in Shopify’s domain manager before you cancel. Otherwise, you may not be able to renew it or redirect it.

Will I need to pay for apps after cancellation?

Yes. App developers can charge their own fees. Even when you close your store, these monthly payments may not stop. You will need to manually remove each app from the Shopify admin to stop the app’s individual billing cycles.

How do I cancel a Shopify free trial account?

If you are in the free trial period and haven’t chosen a paid plan, then there is nothing to do; your account will be put on hold when the trial expires. But if you have selected a plan during the trial, you will need to cancel via the manual cancellation process to cancel your account before you are charged.

Will I receive funds in my store from existing orders?

Yes. If there’s money in Shopify Payments, it will be paid out to your bank account, as normal, even after you’ve closed your shop. Make sure to keep your bank account open until after the final payout.