Who Should Have Access to Your Squarespace Website? Permissions for Teams
The quickest way to give a team access to a Squarespace site is to make everyone an Administrator. It's also how a well-meaning colleague ends up changing the site's fonts at 4pm on a Friday.
Squarespace permissions let you give each person the access they need and nothing more. They're easy to overlook, which is a shame, because they head off most "who changed that?" mysteries before they start. Every role is explained below, followed by how we'd set up a typical team.
Squarespace has nine permission roles for a website, plus three more for Acuity Scheduling, and one person can hold several at once. Owner sits above the lot: there is only one, and only the owner can transfer ownership. Administrators do almost everything else. Below them the roles get specific. Website Editor covers content on existing pages, Store Manager covers products and orders, Billing covers subscriptions and invoices, Analytics covers the numbers, Comment Moderator covers blog comments, Email Campaigns Editor covers newsletters, and Viewer lets someone see a password-protected site without being able to edit it. Giving everyone Administrator is quicker to set up and considerably harder to live with. Matching each person to the smallest role that covers their job takes about ten minutes.
The roles, in plain English
These descriptions come from Squarespace's permissions documentation. One person can hold more than one role. The shape of it: 1 Owner per site, 9 website roles, 3 more for Acuity Scheduling, 1 contributor allowed on the Basic plan, unlimited on the plans above it and up to 5 on a trial site.
Owner
There's only one, usually the account that created the site. The Owner can manage everything and is the only person who can transfer ownership. For an organisation, the Owner should be someone senior who is staying put, not a freelancer or someone on a short contract.
Administrator
Administrators can do almost everything the owner can, except change ownership. Keep this role for the people responsible for the whole site. Two or three names is plenty.
Billing
Billing contributors can change or cancel subscriptions and view invoices, but can't add or edit content. It suits a finance colleague who needs the invoices and has no reason to go near the pages.
Website Editor
Website Editors can add products, blocks and other content to existing pages, but can't add new pages or make style changes. For most people who update a site, this is the right role.
Store Manager
Store Managers can add and reorder products, manage orders and invoice clients, and can also add some content such as blog posts and events. A natural fit for whoever runs the shop day to day.
Analytics
Access to the website and commerce analytics panels, and nothing else. Useful for a marketing agency, or a trustee who likes a graph.
Comment Moderator
Comment Moderators can comment on blog posts without moderation and edit comments, and they get email notifications when new comments arrive.
Email Campaigns Editor
This role can create, send and track Email Campaigns, but can't add or change the Email Campaigns subscription itself.
Viewer
Viewers can see a password-protected site without entering the site password, though they still need page passwords for protected pages. Handy before launch, when a stakeholder needs to see the site but shouldn't be editing it.
If you use Acuity Scheduling, it has three roles of its own: Scheduling Administrator, Scheduling View & Edit and Scheduling View Only.
How many contributors can you add?
It depends on the plan. On the current Basic plan, and on the legacy Personal and Cover Page plans, a site can have one contributor. Other plans allow unlimited contributors, and trial sites can have up to five.
How to invite someone
Go to Settings, then Permissions & Ownership, and click Invite Contributor. Add their name and email address, switch on the roles they need and send the invitation. They'll need their own Squarespace account to accept it, which is the point: every change is then attached to a person rather than to a shared password. Squarespace's guide to inviting contributors covers the details. When somebody leaves, remove them from the same panel, and remember that contributors can also remove themselves at any time.
How we'd set up a typical team
Take a small charity with a chief executive, a communications lead, two staff who post news and events, a volunteer who runs the online shop, a finance manager and a trustee who wants to see visitor numbers. It's on a plan above Basic, since Basic allows one contributor. We'd set it up like this:
Chief executive: Owner
Communications lead: Administrator
Staff posting news and events: Website Editor
Shop volunteer: Store Manager
Finance manager: Billing
Trustee: Analytics
Only the chief executive and the communications lead can rearrange pages or change styles. The finance manager can deal with the site's subscription and invoices without touching content, and the trustee can watch the numbers without being tempted to "just tweak" the homepage. Five people have access, 1 of them can change the design, and nobody is locked out of the job they were asked to do. The plan limits shape this: Basic allows 1 contributor, the plans above it are unlimited, and a trial site can have up to 5, so a growing team is usually a reason to be on Core or higher rather than a reason to share one login. Sharing a login is the thing to avoid, because it removes the only record of who changed what.
Access control is a security question too
There's more to this than tidiness. The government's Cyber Security Breaches Survey, published in April 2026 from a sample of 2,112 businesses, found that 43% had identified a cyber breach or attack in the previous 12 months, with phishing involved in 38% of cases. It also found that 73% of businesses restrict admin rights and 47% require two-factor authentication. Squarespace permissions are how you do the first of those on your website, and they cost nothing. An ex-employee whose Administrator access nobody removed is a standing risk, and a contributor who only needs to post news has no business holding the keys to your billing.
A six-monthly access review
Sites collect contributors the way kitchen drawers collect takeaway menus. Every six months or so:
Open Permissions & Ownership and read every name.
Remove anyone who has left, including agencies you no longer work with.
Move Administrators who only edit content down to Website Editor.
Check the Owner is someone who'll still be around in three years.
Contributors can also remove themselves at any time, so mention it to anyone leaving the organisation.
If you've inherited a site, do this review on day one.
Roles work best alongside training
Getting the roles right stops accidental changes, but people still need to know how to do their part well. We've written about the training options for Squarespace site owners, and if your team needs help with either, get in touch.
FAQs
What's the difference between an Administrator and a Website Editor on Squarespace?
An Administrator can do almost everything the site owner can, apart from transferring ownership, which includes changing styles, adding and deleting pages, and managing the subscription. A Website Editor is deliberately narrower: they can add products, blocks and other content to existing pages, but can't add new pages or make style changes. For most people who keep a site up to date, Website Editor is the right role, because it lets them publish news, swap images and update copy without being able to rearrange the design. Squarespace has nine website roles in total, and one person can hold more than one, so you can combine Website Editor with Analytics for someone who writes content and watches the numbers.
How many contributors can a Squarespace site have?
Sites on the Basic plan, and on legacy Personal and Cover Page plans, can have one contributor. Other plans allow unlimited contributors, and trial sites can have up to five.
Can I give someone access to Squarespace orders without admin access?
Yes. The Store Manager role can add and reorder products, manage orders and invoice clients without Administrator access. For the site's own subscription and invoices, use the Billing role.
Who can transfer ownership of a Squarespace website?
Only the current owner. Administrators can do almost everything else but can't change ownership. The owner invites the new person as a contributor and transfers ownership from Permissions & Ownership once they've accepted.
