The Best WordPress Plugins for Editing User Roles

There are various reasons for wanting to edit the default user roles for your WordPress site.  WordPress includes five different user roles, which will work well for most sites; though, there may come a time when you want to give a specific user a new permission without changing their role.  One example is having multiple levels of subscribers.  You might have subscribers that you wish to grant certain privileges to or want a custom role for a specific member of your team.  Thankfully, there are plugins that you can use to make these changes.  Here is a list of the best WordPress plugins for editing user roles.

User Role Editor

User Role Editor is definitely one of the better role editors for WordPress and is probably one of the most used WordPress plugins for editing user roles.  You are presented with a checkbox when editing user roles.  All of the available privileges are listed, so you can quickly place a check next to the permissions you wish to add to a user role.  WordPress multi-site is supported, so you can use this plugin with your multi-site setup as well.  Choose to either assign permissions by user or by role.  Give your new user roles names and easily delete unused roles.  This is a free plugin, with a premium version that removes dashboard advertisements and includes some additional features.

Capability Manager Enhanced

Capability Manager Enhanced is very similar to User Role Editor and is also a free plugin for WordPress.  It provides the same features, including the checklist of available privileges.  You can add new roles, copy the privileges of existing roles, and edit the capabilities of roles that are already created.  Like any of these plugins, the Administrator role cannot be deleted or edited.  One feature provided by this plugin that is not found on others is the ability to assign permissions based on the type of post being edited.

Role Scoper

Role Scoper is another simple to use role editor that provides the same functionality of the first two plugins mentioned.  The main advantage of this plugin is that it has a simpler interface for users that are not familiar with all the privileges that you can assign to users.  Elevate subscribers to users, as well as make any other changes to user roles that you can imagine.

Advanced Access Manager

Advanced Access Manager is more than just a user role editor.  You can also set permissions on specific post types.  Decide whether your visitors can read, comment, or view each type of post.  This plugin also includes options for changing the login process.  You can limit the number of login attempts and block certain IP addresses.

While WordPress does include a set of user roles that should cover most of your needs, these plugins provide so many more possibilities.  Instantly add, remove, and edit user roles however you see fit.  One of the beautiful things about WordPress is being able to customize it various ways.  Make your installation of WordPress work exactly how you want to streamline your management tasks.