How to Delete a Shopify Account (& How to Cancel the Trial)

If you've decided that you don't want to manage multiple Shopify stores anymore or simply want to start a new Shopify store, then it's time to delete your current Shopify account.

In this guide, we'll walk you through how to delete a Shopify account or cancel the trial.

So whether you're closing up shop or just taking a break, follow these steps and say goodbye (or 'see you soon') to Shopify!

How do you cancel the Shopify trial?

For those interested in trying Shopify but unsure if it's the right ecommerce platform for them, Shopify currently offers a deal where you can get a free 3-day trial + pay only $1/month for your first 3 months.

Using this, people can explore Shopify's features and get a feel for how the platform works before committing to a paid plan. And when they do commit to a paid plan, it's only $1 per month for the first three months!

But if you're someone who decided that Shopify isn't the right fit, canceling your trial is easy and only takes a few minutes.

First of all, we have to remember that there are two types of trials included in Shopify's deal:

• The free trial. Use Shopify (without the checkout feature) for free during the first 3 days.
• The paid trial. Use Shopify (including all features of the standard plan that you picked) for $1 per month during the first 3 months.

Here's how it works to cancel these trials:

• If you're still on your 3-day free trial and haven't selected a pricing plan yet: Your Shopify account will be canceled automatically after your free trial ends, and you don't need to take any action.
• If you have selected a pricing plan already (during the free or paid trial): You need to manually pause or deactivate your store to cancel your account.

Already selected a pricing plan?

Here's how to manually cancel the Shopify trial:

1. From your Shopify dashboard, go to 'Settings -> Plan.'
2. Click on the 'Deactivate store' button.
3. Confirm by clicking on 'Deactivate store' again.
4. Choose a reason for canceling your Shopify account, and click 'Continue.'
5. Enter your password and click on 'Deactivate now.'

After canceling your Shopify trial or account, you will receive an email confirming that your Shopify account has been deactivated.

Note: If you want to read more about how the Shopify trial works in 2024, check out our complete guide here!

What to do if you change your mind after canceling the Shopify trial?

If you cancel your Shopify trial and then decide you want to give it another try, you can easily reactivate your account.

After deactivating your Shopify account, you can still view your past bills and store information or reopen your store for at least two years.

To reopen your Shopify store, simply follow these steps:

1. Log into your Shopify account.
2. Enter your credit card details.
3. Go to 'Settings -> Plan.'
4. Click the 'Pick a plan' button, and select 'Choose plan' for the Shopify plan that fits you best.
5. Review the plan details, and click on 'Start plan.'

Tip: Not sure which Shopify plan is the best for you? If so, this article will definitely help you out!

How do you delete your Shopify account?

While Shopify is an excellent platform for setting up an online store, there may come a time when you need to delete your account.

Perhaps you're moving to a different ecommerce platform, or you're simply closing your business.

Whatever the reason, deleting your Shopify account is a relatively simple process. It's almost the same as manually canceling the Shopify trial.

If you're sure you want to delete your Shopify account, you can follow these steps:

1. From your Shopify dashboard, go to 'Settings -> Plan.'
2. Click on the 'Deactivate store' button.
3. Check if the 'Pause and build' or 'Start a new store' options sound interesting to you.
4. If you want to delete your Shopify account, confirm by clicking on 'Deactivate store' again.
5. Choose a reason for canceling your Shopify account, and click 'Continue.'
6. Enter your password and click on 'Deactivate now.'

What happens when you delete your Shopify account?

After you follow the steps to delete your Shopify account, you will receive an email confirming that your store is deactivated.

This means you won't be able to access your Shopify admin anymore. However, you will be able to view your past bills, reopen your store, and view your store information for at least two years.

If you want to switch to the 'Pause and Build' plan, you can also do so for the first two years.

Last but not least, if you want all your information deleted from Shopify's servers, the best thing to do is to contact Shopify's support.

If you're unsure if Shopify is the right platform for you, take our quiz here to get a personalized recommendation based on your needs:

4 Things to consider before deleting your Shopify account

Before you delete your Shopify account, you should consider a few things.

Let's go over them right now!

1. Putting your store on the 'Pause and Build' plan

If you would like to close your Shopify store temporarily, for example, when your store is seasonal, or you need some time to focus on other projects, then the 'Pause and Build' plan may be the perfect solution for you.

That's because with the 'Pause and Build' plan, you don't have to deactivate your store, and it's much cheaper than a regular Shopify plan!

By choosing 'Pause and Build,' your store will continue to run at a reduced cost of $9 per month, and you will still be able to do the following:

• Access your Shopify dashboard.
• Edit your products.
• Access basic analytics.
• View your online storefront.

However, it's important to note that features like the online store checkout, gift cards, or third-party integrations are disabled!

Here is how you can switch your Shopify store to the 'Pause and build' plan:

1. From your Shopify dashboard, go to 'Settings -> Plan.'
2. Click on the 'Deactivate store' button.
3. Click the 'Pause and build' button.

Note: The 'Pause and Build' plan is only available if your store is on a paid plan.

Oh, and one more thing, if you decide to put your store on the 'Pause and Build' plan, don't forget to uninstall any Shopify apps with recurring charges to avoid being billed for them unnecessarily!

2. Backup your store information

After deactivating your Shopify store, Shopify guarantees to keep your store information for two years.

So, if you want to reopen your store during those first two years after deactivation, you should be able to do so without losing any data!

However, it's still great to learn how to back up your Shopify store and do so.

By exporting CSV files of your products or your billing history, you will definitely be able to reach that data if you ever need it again in the future!

3. Check for any outstanding charges

If you want to delete your Shopify account, you should check beforehand whether you have any outstanding charges.

Because if you do, you may receive an unexpected bill after deactivating your store!

To check for outstanding charges on Shopify, follow these steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to 'Settings -> Billing.'
2. Search for 'Upcoming bill' and click on 'View details.'

4. Don't forget to transfer or cancel your domain

Your domain is the last thing you should consider before deleting your Shopify store.

There are three main things to know here:

• If you purchased a custom domain through Shopify and want to keep it, you should transfer it to a third-party domain provider.
• If you purchase a custom domain through a third-party provider, you should remove it from your Shopify store before deleting your account. If you don't do this, you might be unable to use it for another website.
• Turn off auto-renewal for your custom domain to avoid unexpected charges.

4 Great alternatives for your Shopify store

Shopify is a great platform for online stores, but it may not be the one that fits you.

If you're looking for alternatives to Shopify, there are a few other platforms worth considering.

Let us give you a quick overview of them!

Tip: If you want to read more about these ecommerce platforms, check out this article!

1. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is one of the fastest-growing ecommerce platforms, with over five million websites using it (about 30% of the ecommerce market).

The main difference between Shopify and WooCommcerce is that Shopify is more suitable for beginners and includes hosting, while WooCommerce requires you to take care of your own website hosting.

Pricing

The great thing about WooCommerce is that it's completely free to use!

That's because WooCommerce is open-source software and a plug-in for WordPress.

However, as mentioned before, WooCommerce takes care of the ecommerce part of your site only, and since it's a plug-in, web hosting will be left up to you.

So while the platform is 'free,' you should not forget to factor in the budget to pay for the cost of hosting, which is anywhere from $20 to $30 for a VPS (Virtual Private Server) or cheaper for a Shared Host.

If you are interested in WooCommerce, simply click here to sign up!

2. Sell The Trend Shops

Sell The Trend Shops is a free ecommerce platform that allows you to start a dropshipping store in just a few minutes.

Some pros of Sell The Trend Shops include that:

• It's the fastest road to a ready-for-sales dropshipping store.
• It comes with Sell The Trend, one of the best product research tools.
• It's mobile-optimized.
• It has built-in conversion- and revenue-boosting features.
• It has quick page loading times.

Interested in learning more about Sell The Trend Shops? Take a look at our full review of it here!

Pricing

Sell The Trend's monthly plan costs $39.97 per month:

However, the fantastic thing is that currently, you don't need a regular Sell The Trend subscription to use Sell The Trend Shops.

In other words, you can use Sell The Trend Shops for free!

If you are also interested in Sell The Trend, they have a free 7-day trial available; you can find it here!

3. BigCommerce

BigCommerce is another ecommerce giant like Shopify. It was founded in 2009, has 60,000+ merchants, and is active in over 150 countries.

It's a fully hosted and established platform that is great for both beginners wanting to start small and for those more tech-savvy folks who like to tweak the HTML and CSS of their stores.

When comparing BigCommerce to Shopify, BigCommerce offers better SEO performance, more built-in features, more support for product options and variants, and has just a single core product; its ecommerce platform.

Meanwhile, Shopify offers many third-party plugins (although sometimes at a cost), is easier to use, and has world-class support.

Pricing

BigCommerce offers three main pricing plans (which are almost equal to Shopify), ranging from $29.95 to $299.95 per month:

Considering the long list of features included with the Standard plan of $29.95 per month, it will probably be enough for most ecommerce stores.

With many sales channels, including point of sale, single-page checkout, real-time shipping quotes, and professional reporting tools, you will have a lot of power for a reasonable price.

So, if you want to try out BigCommerce, click here to get your free 15-day trial!

4. ShopBase

ShopBase might not be the first name that comes to mind when starting an ecommerce store, but the great thing about it is that it provides a very affordable and effective entry into dropshipping.

Therefore, it's an ecommerce platform designed with dropshippers as its main clients.

Each of the pricing plans comes with the following:

• An automated online store builder (get a fully functional store in a single click).
• A native AliExpress connection.
• Free upselling and cross-selling tools to maximize profits.
• A monthly list of winning dropshipping products to sell.

Pricing

The pricing makes ShopBase an excellent choice for a beginner on a tight budget.

With a 14-day free trial and a starter package at $19 per month, what's not to like?

So, curious to try out ShopBase's free 14-day trial? If so, click here!

Summary

Before we go to the conclusion, we've created a quick summary of this article for you, so you can easily remember it:

• If you are on Shopify's free trial and didn't select a pricing plan yet, the trial will cancel automatically.
• If you did select a pricing plan and want to cancel your trial or delete your Shopify account, you can follow these steps:
• Go to ‘Settings -> Plan’, click on the ‘Deactivate store’ button, confirm by clicking on ‘Deactivate store’ again, choose a reason for canceling your Shopify account, enter your password and click on ‘Deactivate now.’
• Before deleting your Shopify account, consider using the 'Pause and Build' plan, backing up your store, checking for outstanding charges, and transferring or canceling your domain.
• Four great Shopify alternatives are WooCommerce, Sell The Trend Shops, BigCommerce, and ShopBase.

Conclusion

Now that you know how to deactivate your Shopify account, it's time to decide.

If you're sure you want to close your store, then follow the steps outlined above.

However, if you're not ready to give up just yet, there are a few other options available.

For example, you could take a break from running your store by putting it on the 'Pause and Build' plan. This will disable all payment processing and prevent customers from placing orders.

Alternatively, you could downgrade your account to a cheaper monthly pricing plan. This will reduce your monthly fees and give you access to only the most essential Shopify features.

Whichever route you take, be sure to weigh all your options carefully before making a final decision.

Have a great rest of your day!

Want to learn more about Shopify?

Ready to move your Shopify store to the next level? Check out the articles below:

• Sell The Trend Shops Review: A Good Shopify Alternative?
• Why Is Shopify so Popular for Ecommerce? (7 Great Reasons)
• Shopify vs. WooCommerce: Which One for Dropshipping in 2024?
• What Happens When Shopify Trial Ends? (Do They Delete Your Store?)

Plus, don’t forget to check out our in-depth how to start a Shopify store guide here!