A small padlock in the console means something is not open to you yet. It never hides a feature: everything stays in view, so you always know what exists and what would open it. This article explains the two kinds of padlock, where they appear, and what pressing one tells you.
Two kinds of lock: your plan and your setup list
| Lock | Where you see it | What opens it |
|---|---|---|
| Plan lock | On any feature your plan does not include, in the sidebar or inside a page. | Moving to a plan that includes it. |
| Setup lock | Only on Design and Content in the sidebar, before your first publish. | Finishing the setup list on your dashboard. It costs nothing. |
Pressing a padlock tells you which kind it is. A plan lock names the plan that includes the feature and its price. A setup lock takes you to your dashboard and says Finish setting up your store before designing it. The list is on your dashboard. The setup lock is explained in full in The setup list before your first publish; the rest of this article is about plan locks.
Padlocks in the sidebar: Discount codes, Gift cards, Your domain, Card payments, Journal, Campaigns, Design and Content
A locked item in the sidebar is dimmed, with a padlock at its end. Pressing it does not open the page, except for Journal and Campaigns: it explains instead.
| Sidebar item | Plan that includes it |
|---|---|
| Discount codes | Starter and up |
| Your domain | Starter and up |
| Gift cards | Growth and up |
| Card payments | Growth and up. Free and Starter take cash on delivery. |
| Journal | Starter and up. Padlocked on Free, but it still opens: see below. |
| Campaigns | Growth and up. Padlocked on Free and Starter, but it still opens: see below. |
| Design and Content | Every plan. A padlock here is the setup lock. |
On Starter, Discount codes, Your domain and Journal open, and Gift cards, Card payments and Campaigns keep their padlock. On Growth and up, no sidebar item has a plan lock.
Journal and Campaigns are the two padlocked items that still open, because they may hold work you made on a higher plan. Each opens on a panel that names the plan that includes it, with See plans. Your journal posts are kept, off your storefront, and your past campaigns stay listed under the lock. See Write a journal post and Campaigns need the Growth plan.
Locks inside a page: buttons, tabs and tools
Inside a page, a locked control keeps its place and shows a padlock inside it. It is not greyed out, and pressing it explains what it needs. Point at a locked button or tab and its tooltip reads Included from a higher plan.
Locks come in four shapes:
- Buttons. For example Export CSV and Import CSV on the products list, Add discount code, Issue a card for gift cards, Create return on behalf of customer on an order below Starter, Add role on the roles page, and Generate with AI in the Storefront Studio.
- Tabs. In the product editor, the SEO and History tabs carry a padlock below Starter, and do not open. A product’s changes are still recorded while History is locked — see product history on the Free plan.
- Whole pages. Audit log, Campaigns and Journal show a short explanation and a See plans button in place of their contents: The audit log is on a higher plan, Campaigns are on a higher plan and The journal is on a higher plan. Under the campaigns lock, your Past campaigns are still listed.
- Figures. On the dashboard, a figure your plan does not include shows On a higher plan in place of a number. Point at it to read why.
Some of the most common plan locks:
| Feature | Plan that includes it |
|---|---|
| Discount codes, bulk edits and CSV import and export, bulk order actions (confirming, preparing or cancelling several orders at once, and printing their packing slips together), product video, product SEO, product history, returns, the Journal, abandoned-cart recovery, AI translation and AI writing | Starter and up |
| Gift cards, card payments through HyperPay, newsletter campaigns, loyalty points and referrals, low-stock email alerts, AI photo enhancement, AI storefront generation, AI variant suggestions and AI category icons | Growth and up |
| Your own roles, and the audit log | Business and up |
For everything each plan includes, side by side, see Plans and what each includes.
Press it: the plan that includes it, and its price
Pressing any plan lock shows a message at the corner of the screen naming the cheapest plan that includes the feature and its monthly price, for example This is on Starter — $19/month. followed by a See plans link.
- The plan is always worked out from today’s plans, so the message stays right if a feature moves to another plan.
- The price is the monthly price in US dollars, the currency we bill in. Paying yearly costs less per month: see Plans and what each includes.
- A feature that only Enterprise includes shows Priced on request in place of a price.
- If the plans could not be loaded at that moment, the message says This is part of a higher plan. Open Subscription to compare plans and move up. instead.
The message closes by itself after a few seconds, or press its × to close it sooner.
See plans
See plans in the message opens Subscription, where you can compare the plans and move up.
On a locked whole page, such as Audit log on a plan below Business, the page’s own See plans button first shows the message naming the plan; press See plans in that message to go on to Subscription.
When your new plan is active, its padlocks are gone. For how to move up, and what happens to your billing when you do, see Upgrade or change your plan.
What you keep while a feature is locked
A lock never deletes anything. If you used a feature on a higher plan and then moved down, everything you made is kept, and it all comes back when you move up again.
- Discount codes stay in your store, but customers cannot apply them while your plan does not include them. A code that a customer already applied to their cart still works through that checkout.
- Gift cards stay, with their balances, but cannot be issued or spent at checkout until your plan includes gift cards again.
- Roles you created stay in your roles list, and the staff who hold them keep every permission they give. Below Business you can open such a role but not change it: it says Custom roles are not included in your plan. Staff with this role keep every permission it gives.
- Journal posts are kept but taken off your storefront, with the Journal link in its footer. Move up and they come back as they were.
- Campaigns you sent stay under Past campaigns. A campaign you had scheduled does not go out on a plan without campaigns: at its time it moves back to your drafts, and until then you can unschedule or delete it.
- The audit log keeps recording every change on every plan. Move up and the page opens onto the whole history, not only what happened after you upgraded.
Note
Cash on delivery works on every plan. A padlock on Card payments never stops your customers from ordering: they pay when their order arrives.
What to do next
Compare the plans in Plans and what each includes, and when you are ready, Upgrade or change your plan. If the padlock is on Design or Content, finish The setup list before your first publish instead.