WordPress user roles decide what each person on your site can do: write posts, publish them, edit other people’s work, change settings, or just read. Every user has a role, and every role is a set of permissions WordPress calls capabilities. This guide explains the five built-in roles, how to change someone’s role, and when and how to create a custom role, with the free WP User Manager plugin, which we make.
The five WordPress user roles
| Role | Can do | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Administrator | Everything: settings, plugins, themes, users and all content | The site owner. Keep these to as few people as possible |
| Editor | Publish and manage all posts and pages, including other people’s; moderate comments; manage categories | Someone who runs the content |
| Author | Write, publish and delete their own posts, and upload images | A regular writer you trust to publish |
| Contributor | Write and edit their own posts, but not publish them or upload files | A guest writer whose work you review |
| Subscriber | Read content and manage their own profile | Members, customers and commenters |
A multisite network adds a sixth role, Super Admin, who manages every site in the network.
Each role is a bundle of capabilities such as publish_posts, edit_others_posts or manage_options. Roles are just a convenient name for a set of them, which is why you can build your own.
How to change a user’s role
- One user: go to Users > All Users, click their name, choose a new Role and click Update User.
- Several users: tick them on Users > All Users and use the role control above the list.
- New sign-ups: set New User Default Role in Settings > General. For a membership site this should almost always be Subscriber, never anything that can publish or change settings.
Why roles matter
- Security. Give each person the least access they need. A compromised Editor account can deface every post; a compromised Subscriber account can do very little.
- Workflow. Contributors submit, Editors approve: roles build a review process without any plugin.
- Membership. On a member site, the role often is the membership. A “Member” or “Premium” role decides who sees which content.
When you need a custom role
The five roles cover a blog with a team. They start to pinch when:
- you want members with a name that means something, such as “Member”, “Coach” or “Student”, rather than calling everyone a Subscriber;
- you need a role between two of the built-in ones, such as an Author who can also moderate comments;
- a plugin’s features should only be open to some people, such as a shop manager who can’t touch your theme.
WordPress can store custom roles, but it has no screen to create or edit them. You need a plugin or code.
How to create a custom role with WP User Manager
- Turn on the roles editor. Install WP User Manager, go to Users > Settings > General > Misc Settings and turn on Roles Editor. A Roles screen appears under Users.
- Create the role. Click Add New Role, or use Duplicate on the role closest to what you want, and give it a name. Duplicating is usually quicker: start from Subscriber for a member role, or Author for a writer with extra rights.
- Set its capabilities. Click Edit Capabilities and grant or deny each one. If a plugin checks a capability that isn’t listed, add it with Add Custom Capability.
- Assign it. Give the role to users on Users > All Users, or make it the role people get when they register.
You can also Rename a role or Delete one you no longer need. The default role for new users can’t be deleted. For more detail, see editing WordPress user roles and capabilities.
Putting roles to work
Once you have the roles you want, WP User Manager uses them across the site:
- Several roles per user. Turn on Allow Multiple Roles in Misc Settings to give someone more than one role, such as Member and Coach. On the Users screen, the Add role and Remove role controls change roles for many users at once.
- Keep members out of the dashboard. Restrict Dashboard Access and Admin Bar in Misc Settings keep the roles you choose on the front of the site.
- Let people pick a role at sign-up. A registration form can let new users choose from the roles you allow, which suits sites with different kinds of member.
- Show content by role. Wrap content in
[wpum_restrict_to_user_roles roles="member,coach"]to show it only to those roles, or restrict whole posts and pages by role with the Content Restriction addon (paid). - Send roles to different pages. Redirect each role to its own page after login or registration: see redirecting users by role.
Our guide to WordPress user management covers the rest of looking after users, from the Users screen to cleaning up inactive accounts.
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Other role editor plugins
If roles are all you need, two focused plugins are worth knowing. User Role Editor (700,000+ active installs) edits roles and capabilities and nothing else. Members (300,000+), from the makers of MemberPress, edits roles, allows several roles per user and restricts content by role. Neither adds front-end registration, profiles or account pages, which is where WP User Manager differs.
To create your first custom role, install the free WP User Manager plugin and turn on the roles editor.