Understanding Active vs. Live Discounts

When working with discounts, it’s important to understand the difference between how Shopify manages them and how Discounts Display Pro displays them on your storefront. The two concepts are related but not the same: Active discounts (Shopify) vs. Live discounts (our app).

What Are Active Discounts? (Shopify)

In Shopify, a discount becomes active when it’s created in your Discounts page and all its conditions are currently valid — for example, the start date has passed and it targets available products.

An active discount is recognized by Shopify and can be applied automatically at checkout whenever its rules are met.

It’s important to note that this “active” status is managed entirely by Shopify, not by the app. Discounts Display Pro can import and display active discounts, but it does not control when or how Shopify applies them to customer orders.

👉 For more details, refer to this Shopify Help Center article.

How Active Discounts Appear in Our App

The app imports all your active and schedulled discounts from Shopify into the Manage Discounts tab.
Once imported, they are set to Hidden by default inside the app.
Hidden simply means they won’t show up on your storefront yet — though they are still active in Shopify and can be used by anyone who knows the code or meets the criteria.

What Are Live Discounts? (Our App)

In the app, a Live discount is one that you’ve explicitly chosen to display on your storefront.
Setting a discount to Live only controls its visibility in the store, not whether it works at checkout.
Checkout logic is always handled by Shopify.

Example Scenario 1 - Active and Live (automatic discount)

You create an automatic discount in Shopify.
- It’s Active in Shopify and will be applied at checkout.
The app imports this discount, but it shows as Hidden by default.
You decide to make it Live in the app so that it’s visible on product cards and pages.
Customers can now both see the discount in your storefront (via our app) and use it at checkout (via Shopify).

Example Scenario 2 – Active but Hidden (automatic discount)

You create an automatic discount in Shopify.
- It’s Active in Shopify and will be applied at checkout.
It’s Active in Shopify, so it applies automatically at checkout.
The app imports this discount, but it shows as Hidden by default.
You decide to keep it hidden in the app so it won't be visible on product cards and pages.
The discount still works at checkout, but customers won’t see it on product pages or in the cart.

Example Scenario 3 – Active & Live (discount code)

You create a discount code in Shopify
It’s Active in Shopify, meaning anyone who enters the code at checkout gets a reduced price.
You make this code Live in the app
The code appears on your storefront (via the app), and Shopify uses it at checkout if applied. (For more details check How Auto-Apply Coupons Work)

Scenario 4 – Active but Hidden (discount code)

You create a discount code but you want it to be for email subscribers only.

You create a discount code in Shopify
It’s Active in Shopify, meaning anyone who enters the code at checkout gets a reduced price.
You decide to keep it hidden in the app to prevent it from showing on the storefront.
The code is still valid and usable at checkout, but only customers who know the code can apply it. This helps keep private or segmented discounts out of public view.

Why the Difference Matters

Not every Active discount should be made Live.
- Example: exclusive influencer codes or VIP discounts that you don’t want to display publicly.
The number of discounts you can set to Live at the same time depends on your plan limits.
All discounts remain Active in Shopify regardless of whether you make them Live in the app.

👉 For setup instructions, see: Managing Live Discounts

Quick Recap

Active (Shopify) = discount works at checkout if conditions are met.
Hidden (App) = discount exists but is not shown on your storefront.
Live (App) = discount is displayed on your storefront, but checkout usage is still controlled by Shopify.