Removing domains

If you no longer want to associate a custom domain from a third-party provider with your Shopify store, then you can remove it from your Shopify admin, or transfer it to another Shopify store or domain provider. You can also remove subdomains.

Before you remove a domain, review the following sections to understand which domains can be removed, which domains should stay connected, and how to get a clean domain setup without removing anything.

Your myshopify.com domain can't be removed

Your myshopify.com domain name can't be removed or transferred. Shopify uses your original myshopify.com domain as a permanent identifier for your store, even if your customers only ever see your custom domain. Your myshopify.com domain is used for the following purposes:

Account authentication: Your myshopify.com domain is your unique ID when you log in to your Shopify admin or contact Shopify Support.
App integrations: Most apps use your myshopify.com URL to sync data with your store. Removing it can cause apps to stop working.
Technical fail-safe: If your custom domain provider ever has a server outage, your myshopify.com URL ensures that your store and admin remain accessible.

You can choose a new myshopify.com domain name one time. However, you still need to use your original myshopify.com domain name to log in to your Shopify admin and to contact Shopify Support.

Shopify-managed domains can't be removed

Domains that you purchase from or manage on Shopify can't be removed. Instead, you can transfer a Shopify-managed domain to another Shopify store or other domain provider.

If you still own a Shopify-managed domain and want to stop it from pointing to your store, then you can park the domain by updating its DNS settings. The domain remains registered in your account, but it no longer points to your Shopify store.

Keep both root and www versions of your domain connected

In your domain settings, you might see two versions of your custom domain: the root domain (for example, example.com) and the www subdomain (for example, www.example.com). It's important to keep both versions connected to your store.

Some customers type www before your domain name, and some don't. By keeping both the root and www versions active and connected, Shopify ensures that no matter how a customer enters your address, they reach your store.

Get a clean domain list without removing domains

If you want a clean, professional-looking domain setup, then use redirection instead of deletion. Redirection lets you keep all of your domains connected while directing customers to a single primary domain.

Go to Settings > Domains.
Verify that your custom domain is set as the primary domain.
Verify that the status for both the root and www versions of your domain says Connected.
Shopify automatically redirects all traffic to your primary domain, so customers always see your preferred URL.