User Roles In WordPress

Use our table as a reference to understand the different WordPress user roles and the capabilities between them. Also learn how to create WordPress users and assign them a role of administrator, editor, author, contributor, or subscriber.

PermissionsAdministratorsEditorAuthorContributorSubscriber
Permissions Administrators Editor Author Contributor Subscriber
Read Website YES YES YES YES YES
Edit Posts YES YES YES YES NO
Delete Posts YES YES YES YES NO
Publish Posts YES YES YES NO NO
Delete Published Posts YES YES YES NO NO
Edit Published Posts YES YES YES NO NO
Upload Files YES YES YES NO NO
Publish Pages YES YES NO NO NO
Delete Pages YES YES NO NO NO
Edit All Posts and Pages YES YES NO NO NO
Delete All Posts and Pages YES YES NO NO NO
Read Private Pages YES YES NO NO NO
Edit Private Pages YES YES NO NO NO
Delete Private Pages YES YES NO NO NO
Manage Categories YES YES NO NO NO
Moderate Comments YES YES NO NO NO
Activate Plugins YES NO NO NO NO
Create Users YES NO NO NO NO
Delete Plugins YES NO NO NO NO
Delete Themes YES NO NO NO NO
Delete Users YES NO NO NO NO
Edit Files YES NO NO NO NO
Edit Plugins YES NO NO NO NO
Edit Theme Options YES NO NO NO NO
Edit Themes YES NO NO NO NO
Edit Users YES NO NO NO NO
Export Content YES NO NO NO NO
Import Content YES NO NO NO NO
Install Plugins YES NO NO NO NO
Install Themes YES NO NO NO NO
See All Users YES NO NO NO NO
Manage Site Options YES NO NO NO NO
Promote Users YES NO NO NO NO
Remove Users YES NO NO NO NO
Switch Themes YES NO NO NO NO
Update Core YES NO NO NO NO
Update Plugins YES NO NO NO NO
Update Themes YES NO NO NO NO
Edit Dashboard YES NO NO NO NO

Information for this table came from www.wpbeginner.com

CREATE A USER AND ASSIGN A SPECIFIC ROLE

In the WordPress dashboard for your website, on the left-hand side menu area go to Users and select Add New.

Users menu option in WordPress

Then just simply fill out the form to create the user. Make sure to set the Role dropdown option. By default WordPress has it set to subscriber which has the lowest capabilities.

Create user in WordPress form

Author: Jesse Lange
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