Pause and Build vs password page vs an app: which should you use when you're away?
Shopify gives you two built-in ways to stop selling for a while, and apps add a third. They solve different problems, and picking the wrong one can cost you search traffic or a month's fees.
The three options in one paragraph each
Private mode (the password page)
Found under Online Store > Preferences > Store access. Turn it on and visitors see a landing page with your message and a password field instead of your store. It takes effect immediately and costs nothing extra. The catch: Shopify hides all your online store pages from visitors and search engines while it's on.
Pause and Build
A Shopify plan for stores that need to stop selling for a while but keep working on the store. Shoppers can still view products but can't buy them, because checkout is switched off across all sales channels, including Point of Sale. You keep admin access to edit products and view basic reports, at a reduced monthly fee. The switch is scheduled for the end of your current billing cycle, so it isn't instant. You must be past your free trial and on a paid plan, apps keep billing unless you uninstall them, and to reopen you pick a new plan. Shopify sets the price and rules, so check its current plan page for details.
A vacation app
An app changes what your theme shows during a set period: it hides or replaces buy buttons, adds notices, and in some apps lets orders continue with a delay message. Your plan doesn't change, and your store stays visible to shoppers and search engines. Apps generally work at the storefront level rather than switching checkout off inside Shopify, so they're a strong deterrent rather than a hard lock.
Side by side
| Private mode | Pause and Build | Vacation app | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shoppers can browse | No, they see a password page | Yes | Yes |
| Search engines see your pages | No | Yes | Yes |
| Checkout | Online store hidden | Off on all channels, including POS | Buy buttons hidden or replaced; some apps can keep orders open with a notice |
| Starts | Immediately | End of your billing cycle | When you choose; some apps schedule it |
| Ends | When you turn it off | When you choose a new plan | When you choose; some apps end it automatically |
| Cost | Included | Reduced plan fee (see Shopify's plan page); apps keep billing | The app's price, on top of your plan |
Which one fits
Away a few days to a few weeks
This is most trips: a holiday, a wedding, a trade show. Private mode is tempting because it's instant, but hiding your store from search engines for weeks is a poor trade for a short break. Pause and Build usually doesn't fit either, because its timing follows your billing cycle rather than your travel dates, and you'd be switching plans twice for one trip. An app, or the manual steps in our vacation mode guide, keeps your store visible and lines up with your actual dates.
Away a month or more, or stopping to rebuild
Pause and Build was made for this. Saving on your plan fee adds up over months, checkout is off for certain on every channel, and you can keep editing products. Plan around the billing-cycle timing, and uninstall apps you won't use so they don't keep charging.
You need checkout off with no exceptions
If a single order would be a real problem (perishable stock, a legal hold, a closed warehouse), use one of Shopify's own options, because they act on checkout itself. Pause and Build switches it off across channels. Apps can't promise the same, since a shopper with a saved checkout link might still get through.
The store isn't public yet
Private mode is the right tool for a store you're still building. That's what it's for.
Questions to ask before you choose
- How long, in days, will you really be away? Compare that with your billing date.
- How much of your traffic comes from search? The more it does, the less you want private mode.
- Do you sell in person or on other channels too? Pause and Build stops those as well.
- Would you rather keep taking orders and ship them later? Only an app or a manual notice does that; see how to keep selling while you're away.
Where Away Mode fits
We make Away Mode, a vacation app for the short-trip case: you set start and end dates once, it turns on and off by itself, and your store stays browsable and indexed. Like other apps, it works at the storefront level; if an order slips through while orders are paused, it tags the order and emails you. For long closures, or when no order can get through, Pause and Build is the better choice.