---
title: "Membership plan types"
url: "https://zendra.com/docs/membership-plan-triggers/"
description: "A quick overview of how members get access to plans"
published: "2026-03-12T01:20:02+00:00"
modified: "2026-10-13T03:43:38+00:00"
---

When you create a plan in Zendra, you choose its **type** and how customers get in. The type sets the model — a membership, a subscribe & save product, or a loyalty-style free program — and the trigger decides what grants access. This page walks through the options so you can pick the right combination.

## When you’d use this

- Decide whether a plan should be free, paid one-time, or a recurring subscription.
- Choose how customers become members — by buying, by signing up, or automatically.
- Add a free trial or a signup fee to a paid plan.
- Set whether access lasts a fixed period or runs until cancelled.

## The plan types

Every plan is one of three types:

- **Membership** — sells access through a digital product listing (e.g. a “VIP Access” product). Buying it makes the customer a member.
- **Subscribe & save** — sells a physical product on a recurring schedule (e.g. a monthly coffee), with member perks attached.
- **Loyalty program** — a free program where access is granted automatically rather than purchased.

## How customers become members

A plan is activated by one of these triggers:

- **Product purchase** — the customer buys the plan’s assigned product. They can buy it **once** or **subscribe** using one of your billing plans.
- **Account registration** — grant a free membership automatically when a customer creates an account. Useful for growing your list and your member base at once.
- **Shopify Flow** — create or grant memberships automatically from a workflow (for example, “grant membership after $500 in lifetime spend”). See [Shopify Flow](/docs/shopify-flow/).
- **Manual grant** — give any customer a complimentary membership from Zendra’s Memberships page or their Shopify customer page, no purchase required. See [Add a membership by hand](/docs/managing-members/#add-a-membership-by-hand).

## Billing and access options

For paid plans, a few settings shape the commercial terms:

- **Billing interval** — charge weekly, monthly, annually, or on a custom interval, with optional minimum commitment and maximum billing cycles.
- **Free trial** — let customers try the membership free for a set number of days before the first charge, independent of the plan’s billing interval.
- **Signup fee** — add a one-time enrollment fee on top of the recurring price.
- **Fixed-length or open-ended** — set the membership to expire after a specific duration, or run until the member cancels.

## Common issues

- **Customers can only buy once, not subscribe.** The plan needs at least one billing plan configured — add one to offer a recurring option.
- **A free program isn’t enrolling new account holders.** Confirm the account-registration trigger is enabled on the plan.
- **A trial charged immediately.** Check the trial length (in days) is set on the billing plan and not left at zero.

## Keep learning

- [Create your first membership plan](/docs/create-your-first-membership-plan/) — a step-by-step setup.
- [Recurring billing & subscriptions](/docs/recurring-billing-subscriptions/) — billing intervals and options in depth.
- [Shopify Flow](/docs/shopify-flow/) — automate membership grants.