Shopify's Pause and Build plan: what it doesn't do
Pause and Build is the only built-in way to stop selling on Shopify without a password page. It is designed for a store that is being rebuilt, not for a merchant going on holiday — and the differences matter the moment you want to be away for two weeks.
What Pause and Build actually is
It is a plan, not a setting. For about $9 a month your store stays online and your pages stay indexed, but checkout is switched off on every channel. Visitors can browse, add to cart, and then hit a dead end.
Because it is a plan change, Shopify's own help page lists the conditions: the store must be at least 60 days old, the switch takes effect at the end of your current billing cycle rather than today, you can only use it twice in any twelve-month period, and you have to pick a plan again when you come back. Your apps keep billing you in the meantime.
Why it fits a rebuild and not a holiday
A rebuild is planned weeks ahead and lasts months; waiting for the end of a billing cycle is no problem. A holiday is decided on Friday for Monday, lasts ten days, and happens two or three times a year — more than the plan allows.
The other gap is the visitor. Pause and Build says nothing: there is no banner, no reopening date, no explanation at checkout. A store that fails silently reads as broken, and the customer leaves for good rather than coming back next week.
What to use instead
For a holiday you want three things: a switch you can flip today and flip back whenever you like, a clear message with a reopening date in your visitor's language, and a block that actually holds — including direct cart links, Shop Pay and the Shop app, which hiding a button does not cover.
That is what a vacation-mode app built on Shopify's validation functions does. Pausify blocks orders on Shopify's own servers, keeps the storefront and its ranking untouched, and can even keep taking orders while announcing the shipping date, so a two-week absence costs you nothing in sales.