What is an owner account?
EasyContent offers a flexible user and role system to support collaboration across internal teams and external contributors. A key concept in this system is the distinction between Owner Accounts and Member Accounts, each with specific capabilities and permissions.
This article explains how these account types work, what makes them different from one another, and how certain permissions behave depending on the type of account.
Owner vs. Member Accounts
There are two main types of accounts in EasyContent:
- Owner Account: Created directly through EasyContent’s sign-up process. The person who signs up becomes the account owner.
- Member Account: Created when someone is invited to join EasyContent by an existing user (usually to collaborate on a specific project).
A user can be both an Owner and a Member. For example, if you create your own EasyContent account (Owner), but are later invited to help on someone else’s project, you also become a Member in that other account.
An owner account can only have the admin role. No user can assign them to any other role, not even themselves. A member account, on the other hand, can have any role, from the default ones to custom ones and even the admin role.
However, an owner admin is still different from a regular admin. A member account given an admin role still has some restrictions on what they can perform vs an owner account with an admin role, even if, on the surface, they have the same role and set of permissions.
Admin Roles: Owner Admin vs. Regular Admin
Both Owner and Member accounts can have an admin role, but there is a crucial difference:
| Capability | Owner Admin | Regular Admin |
|---|---|---|
| Has permanent access to the Roles page even without the correct permission | ✅ | ❌ |
| Can create and edit roles and permissions | ✅ Always, even if the specific permission is disabled | ✅ (Only if permission is granted) |
| Can edit other admins' profiles | ✅ (Only if permission is granted) | ✅ (Only if permission is granted, however, they can't edit an owner account's profile) |
| Can be edited by others | ❌ | ✅ (If other users have permission) |
| Can be deactivated | ❌ | ✅ |
Even if the admin role has all permissions removed, the owner account will always retain unrestricted access to the Roles page, where they can configure roles, set permissions, and assign responsibilities. This guarantees that account owners are never locked out of essential administrative controls, even if a different user attempts to remove the admin privileges of the account owner.
Access to Account Settings
Only the Owner Account has access to the Account Settings page, regardless of their role's permissions. This page allows configuration of account-wide settings such as:
- Billing and subscription
- Payment methods
- Branding and white labeling (for supported plans)
Regular admins (non-owners) cannot access this page under any circumstances.
Summary
EasyContent's role system is designed to offer flexibility while ensuring the account owner always retains full administrative control. Here’s a quick recap:
- Owner Admin has a hidden, unique, immutable role with always-on access to role and account settings.
- Regular Admins are powerful but permission-dependent and cannot override or manage the owner’s profile.
- Only Owner Accounts can access and edit account-level settings like billing and branding.
If you'd like to understand more about assigning roles or managing permissions, check out our complete guide on permissions.