Members

Members is a free role and capability manager that places a practical interface on WordPress native permissions.

Quick take

Members fits WordPress sites that want a free interface for native roles, capabilities, multiple roles and role-based content permissions. Its free feature set is substantial and remains separate from the commercial MemberPress membership platform.

Role and capability model

Members edits WordPress roles and capabilities, supports multiple roles per user, and can restrict content by role or capability. Current versions also include role export/import and an administrator rescue mechanism for lockout recovery.

Members should be configured from a written permission map, not by clicking capabilities until a screen appears. For Members, write down which native and plugin-defined capabilities belong to each role before editing the live role table, especially when users can hold more than one role.

Important capabilities

• create and edit WordPress roles
• assign multiple roles to users
• manage individual capabilities
• role-based content permissions
• role export and import
• clone roles
• administrator rescue link
• native WordPress permission model

Because Members stays close to the native capability system, it is useful for editorial teams, stores and custom post type workflows where the main requirement is who can do what inside WordPress.

Pricing and licensing

Members is available free on WordPress.org. It does not require a MemberPress subscription for the role-management functions described here.

Members cost matters less than the operational risk of a poorly documented role model. Members is free, so the real implementation cost is the time required to design, document and test a role model that other administrators can understand later.

Safe implementation

Members documentation explicitly warns that role changes can lock administrators out. Export roles before major edits and keep the rescue procedure documented with the site handoff.

When testing Members, keep a separate administrator account untouched and verify the edited role in a private browser session. Members testing should include its administrator rescue path and a second untouched administrator account so role mistakes do not leave the site without a recovery route.

Where it fits

Members suits small and midsize teams, agency client sites, editorial workflows and stores that need role cleanup without a paid permission suite.

Members is easier to maintain when role names describe organizational responsibility rather than individual people. Members roles should describe durable responsibilities such as Store Manager or Course Editor so staff turnover does not require redesigning the permission model.

Trade-offs

Members is not a complete membership billing product and is not designed to replace object-level permissions systems for highly granular per-post access rules.

Members can overlap with membership and content-restriction plugins, so decide whether Members owns capabilities while another plugin owns paid access. On a Members-based site, capability rules, front-end visibility, and paid membership access should have clearly separated owners to avoid contradictory restrictions.

Migration and rollback

Use the built-in role export/import workflow when moving permission structures between sites, then review plugin-specific capabilities after all production plugins are active.

Members migrations should be verified against custom post types and plugin-defined capabilities because those permissions may not exist on a clean WordPress install. Keep the Members role export and a readable permission map until editorial, store, and account-management workflows have all passed role testing.

PluginSuggest verdict

Members is a practical free alternative to User Role Editor when native roles and capabilities are the primary requirement.

Multiple-role design

Members can assign more than one role to a user, which is useful but can also make effective permissions harder to reason about. Treat multiple roles as an exception rather than the default. If a user receives capabilities from several roles, document the reason and verify that removing one role later does not leave another role granting the same sensitive capability.

The export and import tools also make Members useful for repeatable agency builds, provided the destination site has the same plugins active before imported roles are considered final.

Agency handoff

For agency-managed sites, include the Members role export with the handoff package and explain which plugins introduce custom capabilities. A future maintainer should be able to tell whether a capability belongs to WordPress core, WooCommerce, a membership tool, or custom code before removing it. That simple inventory reduces the risk of breaking a workflow during routine cleanup.

Recheck roles whenever a major plugin is replaced because new extensions may register different capabilities even when they provide similar business features.

For repeatable client builds, version the exported role file with the site configuration so permission changes can be reviewed alongside plugin and theme updates.

Document it clearly.

Permission changes are persistent WordPress data

Members is an interface over WordPress roles and capabilities, not a temporary overlay. Changes made to roles are written into WordPress and do not automatically disappear when the plugin is deactivated. That makes a backup and a documented baseline important before removing capabilities from administrators, shop managers, editors, or custom application roles.

The plugin supports multiple roles, explicit capability denies, role cloning, reset tools, and JSON import/export. When multiple roles grant and deny the same capability, review the denied-capabilities override setting so permissions behave consistently. The Administrator Rescue Link and default-role reset tools provide recovery paths, but they should not replace staging tests for complex permission changes.

Content restrictions versus membership billing

Members can restrict content by role or capability, make a site private, and conditionally show blocks or shortcode content. It is not a payment/subscription engine. If access depends on paid memberships, another plugin still needs to assign or remove the relevant roles/capabilities according to billing state. Test that handoff carefully on renewal, cancellation, refund, and failed-payment events.

Members FAQs