Client Portal plans and permissions
The Client Portal is available on paid plans, and only workspace Owners and Admins can manage it. Clients get one of three roles: Client Admin, Client Member or Client Viewer. This page lays out which plan gets what, who on your team has access, and what each client role is allowed to do.
At a glance
| What it covers | Plan availability, staff access, client role capabilities |
| Where to find it | Portal Settings, Client Roles section, shows the role table |
| Who can use it | Owners and Admins manage the portal. Clients use it by invitation |
| Plan | Pro and Business (branding on Business only) |
Which plan includes what
| Plan | Client Portal | Portal invoices | Branding (logo, colors, theme, hide “Powered by Worklenz”) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Not available. Admins see a preview with an Upgrade Now button | No | No |
| Pro | Yes | Yes | No |
| Business | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes, same as Business | Yes | Yes |
On the Free plan, the Clients item in the top navigation shows a crown icon and the tooltip “Upgrade your plan to access this feature”. Selecting it opens the upgrade prompt, and a blurred preview shows what you would get. To change plans, see upgrade your plan.
Showing invoices to clients also needs the Show Invoices in the client portal switch in portal settings, which is off by default.
Who on your team can manage the portal
Only workspace Owners and Admins can open the admin area. Members and guests do not see it and cannot reach it by address. If you want a teammate to manage clients, change their role first. See member access levels.
There is no limit on how many clients, client users or portal projects you can have.
What each client role can do
Each client person has one role, and it applies to every project assigned to them.
| Capability | Client Admin | Client Member | Client Viewer |
|---|---|---|---|
| View shared projects, milestones, tasks and files | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Comment and reply in discussions | Yes | Yes | No |
| Upload files (where the project allows it) | Yes | Yes | No |
| Submit change requests | Yes | Yes | No |
| Approve or request changes on approvals | Yes | No | No |
| Manage people in their own organization | Yes, only if you allow it | No | No |
A few details that catch people out:
- A Client Admin sees every project of their organization. Members and Viewers see only the projects assigned to them.
- Only a named approver who is also a Client Admin can decide an approval. See approvals.
- Client Admins can invite or remove colleagues only after you turn on Let Client Admins invite users or Let Client Admins remove users. Both are off by default.
- A Client Admin cannot remove themselves or change their own role, and an organization always keeps at least one Client Admin.
What clients can never see
Whatever you share, clients never see internal comments, time logs, estimates, costs or task dependencies. Items left as Internal Only are not counted or hinted at. Quotes are staff-side only, so clients have no quotes page.
Best practices
- Use Client Viewer for stakeholders who only read, because Viewers cannot comment, upload or submit change requests.
- Give Client Admin only to people who should sign off work, because only a Client Admin can approve or request changes.
- Leave Let Client Admins invite users and Let Client Admins remove users off unless you want clients to manage their own people, because both are off by default.
- Change a teammate’s role to Admin before asking them to manage clients, because Members and guests cannot reach the admin area.
- Confirm your plan before planning branding, because logo and colors need Business.