Subscription types: choosing a strategy, and what the details page shows

Click the gear icon at the top right of the dashboard to open Settings, then click Marketing under Functionalities. Subscription types is the first section on the page. You only see Marketing if you're an admin with access to marketing.
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Each row shows the name and description, the strategy, and Number of subscribed contacts. Click Click to fetch to count them. The count can be up to an hour old, and it only includes contacts who are actually subscribed.
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A new account starts with 2 types:

Check the strategy column for your own account, because older accounts may have been set up differently.
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Opt-Out. New contacts are subscribed automatically, and they can unsubscribe whenever they like.
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Opt-In. New contacts start out unsubscribed. They're only mailed once they subscribe: through a form, the widget, the contacts portal, the subscription preferences page, or because you subscribed them on their profile.
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Double opt-in. Like Opt-In, but subscribing sends the contact an email with a link to confirm. Until they click it, their status is Pending confirmation and they aren't mailed. Once they click, they're Subscribed. The email they get is the double opt-in confirmation email in your system emails, so it's worth checking that it looks the way you want.
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Functional. Every contact is always subscribed and nobody can unsubscribe. It's meant for emails a contact needs regardless of marketing consent, such as login codes and emails about their vouchers or gift cards. Emails with this type don't need an unsubscribe link. Each account has exactly 1 functional type, and you can't create another.
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The strategy can't be changed once a type exists. If you picked the wrong one, create a new type and move your emails over to it.
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Every contact you already have gets the type right away, with the starting status of its strategy. So a new Opt-Out type subscribes all your existing contacts at once, and a new Opt-In or Double opt-in type leaves them all unsubscribed. This happens in the background and doesn't start any automations or send anything.
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A name can only be used once in your account, including the names of types you've deleted. You'll also get an error once your account has 50 text attributes for contacts, because every subscription type counts as one.
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Usages lists everything that uses this type, so you can see what's affected before you change or delete it. The columns are Name, Type, Used for and Status, and each row opens the item it names.
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Type is one of Campaign, Recurring email, Automated email, System email, Automation, Form, Widget or Contacts portal.

Used for says how the item uses the type:

When nothing uses the type yet, you'll see "This subscription type isn't used anywhere yet".
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Activities is the history of every contact's subscription to this type, newest first. Each row shows the contact, what changed, such as "Subscription was updated from Unsubscribed to Subscribed", and when. Click a contact to open their profile.
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It also records the starting status each contact got when they were added or when the type was created, so a new type shows a row for every existing contact.
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Open the contact under CRM → Contacts and go to Subscriptions. Each type shows the contact's status, Subscribed, Unsubscribed or Pending confirmation, and a button that matches it: Subscribe, Unsubscribe, or Send reminder when a double opt-in confirmation is still open. Send reminder sends the confirmation email again.
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Subscribing a contact to a double opt-in type sends them the confirmation email, just like when they subscribe themselves. The functional type can't be changed for a contact.
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At the bottom of the details page, under Danger zone, click Delete subscription type and confirm with Delete. It can't be undone, and the name can't be used again. 2 types can't be deleted:

Usages don't stop you from deleting a type, and emails, forms and automations that use it aren't moved to another type. When the type is still in use, the confirmation tells you how many items use it. Check Usages first and move each item to the type you want to keep.