The default WordPress CMS will allow you to delegate various different roles to other members of your team, like Administrator, Editor, Author, Contributor, and Subscriber.
Though this is fine for many, some users want a little more control over the permissions they give others to access certain areas of their website.
This could be for members only content, limiting clients to view-only versions of their website (so they don’t break it!), or hiding premium content behind a paywall. And this is where user roles plugins can be useful, as they allow more control over each role’s capabilities on your website. Let’s look at which WordPress permissions plugin is right for your own circumstance.
Advanced Access Manager
Advanced Access Manager (AAM) is a great choice if you want an advanced WordPress plugin that will give you more control over your user roles and permissions. The AAM dashboard gives you granular access over the roles you’re managing, and it’s very easy to add new roles and edit them to your own preferences.
You can set default permissions for various content types, and it’s ideal for people simply looking for a more advanced alternative to the WordPress default, as the layout is intuitive enough that you can install it and easily create new users.
It has a powerful access settings setup where all the settings are automatically propagated from the top level to the bottom level – the default level is the top level, which means all the settings that you define here will be inherited by all the roles, users and visitors; and you can then override these settings on each sub level on the roles and respectively on the users.
In addition to enabling you to manage user access, it has many more advanced features you can utilize. The security audit feature is particularly valuable, helping you to identify potential vulnerabilities before they become problems. For developers, the clean, ad-free interface and extensive hooks make AAM super easy to work with.
If you need precise control over your WordPress site’s permissions, AAM delivers without compromising on usability or transparency.
Members – Membership & User Role Editor Plugin
Members is another great WordPress plugin that allows you to manage users easily. This plugin was actually acquired by MemberPress several years ago, which is a much more advanced plugin that’s worth checking out if you run a paid membership website.
But for those who simply want to control permissions of their users, Members should be enough. Like AAM, it gives you more precise control over logged in users and their capabilities – you can choose whether they can moderate comments, import and export to WordPress, and give access to plugins individually.
The multi-role assignment feature is also particularly useful, letting you layer permissions instead of creating numerous custom roles.
Another thing to mention is that lot of premium add-ons that were previously paid-only are now available at no extra cost. This means things like integration with popular plugins like WooCommerce, Advanced Custom Fields (ACF is considered the best custom fields plugin by many), and Easy Digital Downloads are now included in the free version.
Members provides a good balance of power and usability, making it an essential tool for anyone that wants to create structured, permission-based WordPress websites without diving into code
PublishPress Capabilities
PublishPress Capabilities is another access control plugin used to manage permissions to your WordPress posts, pages, media, and custom post types. You can create new users, clone roles, and assign specific permissions to each of those roles too. The plugin also allows you to back up, restore and migrate your site’s permissions.
The free version delivers good functionality, allowing you to edit existing roles, create custom ones, and control capabilities across your site. The ability to clean up the post editing experience by hiding unnecessary Gutenberg or Classic Editor elements is great for client sites where simplicity matters.
While the free version handles basic permission management effectively, the Pro version’s admin menu restrictions and additional post type controls would be useful for more complex sites, especially WooCommerce stores or membership sites requiring a deeper level of access control.
This is just one of many plugins offered by PublishPress, who have a whole portfolio of WordPress plugins that cover author bios through to managing your workflow. But these aren’t necessary if you just want to manage your WordPress users. There’s also PublishPress Permissions, which is a more advanced alternative to Capabilities – this won’t be necessary for 90% of site owners, but it may be worth checking out if you need strict control over permissions.
PublishPress Capabilities offers an alternative way to manage WordPress user permissions. It’s a relatively basic plugin but it should be sufficient for most users.
User Role Editor
If you want something even more basic than Capabilities, User Role Editor is the simplest WordPress plugin here that’s straightforward enough to use. You can add your users and then check the capabilities you want to assign to a role within a few seconds, and it doesn’t come with all the additional features that other plugins may come with.
You have the ability to create custom roles from scratch (or duplicate existing ones) which you can then use to grant specific permissions to individual team members. The free version covers this, but there is a Pro version that offers menu item restrictions, widget visibility controls, and the import/export functionality. If you’re managing a WordPress site with multiple contributors, User Role Editor provides the basics that will probably suit the average WordPress site owner.
Final Thoughts
Overall, AAM and Members are commonly recommended plugins for those that want complete control over user role capabilities, all from the WordPress admin menu. They allow you to create completely new roles from scratch and then apply varying content permissions depending on how much you want to restrict access for each role.
PublishPress Capabilities is not quite as extensive but worth checking out (especially if you have another PublishPress plugin). In comparison, the User Role Editor plugin is quite simple, but if you’re only looking for a step up from controlling who has access to editing posts and pages, it might just be enough.
