A membership plan is a named tier you create under Marketing > Membership Plans (for example "Annual Premium" or "VIP") and then assign to individual customers on their profile. It has no price, no billing cycle and no renewal of its own — it is a label that marks a customer as belonging to a group.

A subscription (Weekly Subscription / Meal Plan) is the recurring order a customer buys: it has a plan price, delivery days, meal counts, renewals, pauses and cancellations.

In the current version the membership plan's practical effect is coupon targeting: when you create a coupon you can limit it to a membership plan, and the checkout only accepts that coupon for customers on that plan. That is how you give members exclusive pricing or perks. Membership plans do not create subscriptions or charge anyone.