Software project permissions and plans - who can do what
Software project access depends on two things: your role in the workspace or project, and your plan. This page lists both as plain facts so you can see why a button is missing.
At a glance
| What it covers | Role-by-role access, and plan differences |
| Roles | Owner/Admin, Project Manager, Member, Guest |
| Plans | Free, Pro, Business (self-hosted behaves like Business) |
Role basics are in member access levels and the guest role.
Which role can do what?
| Action | Owner/Admin | Project Manager | Member | Guest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Create a software project | Yes | No | No | No |
| Open project settings | Yes | Yes | Controls disabled | Gear disabled |
| Create sprints, start and complete them | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Create, edit and archive epics | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Change the point scale | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Create releases, edit them, mark released | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Add or remove work items in a release | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Create, edit and move issues | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Set story points, flag as blocked, comment | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| See the Reports tab | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Create custom reports | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| See Backlog and Releases | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (view only) |
| Connect GitHub | Yes | No | No | No |
| Link a repository | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Create a branch from an issue | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Export tasks (Business) | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Guests also lose the Insights, Finance, Updates, Files and Docs tabs.
Two members can behave differently if a project turns on Members only see work items assigned to them, or Only Admins and Team Leads can create and assign work items. See software project settings.
Which features depend on the plan?
The same on every plan
Sprints, epics, releases, story points, the Backlog and Board, the Sprint, Flow and Cycle time reports, custom reports, and the GitHub integration.
Limited on Free
| Feature | Free | Pro or Business |
|---|---|---|
| Project lead, finance access, health and category in project settings | Disabled | Available |
| Insights, Roadmap and Workload tabs | Locked with an upgrade prompt | Available |
| Number of projects | Up to 3 projects | Higher limit. See upgrading your plan |
Workload is hidden on software projects in any case. Free workspaces see “Sorry, the free plan cannot have more than 3 projects” when they try to create a fourth.
Needs Business
| Feature | Notes |
|---|---|
| Restrict task creation to Admins and Team Leads | Setting in Team & access. When on, a member sees “Task creation is restricted. Please contact admin for access.” |
| Task export | In settings Export. Skips story points, issue type, epic and release. |
| Slack integration | Shown next to GitHub in Integrations |
To change plans, see upgrade your plan.
Example
Your Project Manager can start sprints and mark releases as released, but cannot create the project in the first place because only an Owner/Admin can. A teammate on a Free workspace sees the project lead field greyed out until the workspace upgrades.
Best practices
- Give stakeholders the Guest role when they only need to look, because Guests can view the Backlog and Releases but cannot change anything.
- Give planners the Project Manager role instead of Admin, because it covers sprints, epics, releases and the point scale.
- Check your plan before relying on restricted task creation, because the switch needs Business and stays greyed out without it.
- Do not use task export to carry estimates elsewhere, because it skips story points, issue type, epic and release.
- Check the role table first when a button is missing, because most controls are shown only to Owners, Admins and Project Managers.