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Each participant in a Notion workspace is one of four types of users:
- Workspace Owner
- Membership Admin
- Member
- Guest
Each user type has its own permissions and methods of joining the workspace. In the hierarchy, Workspace Owners have maximum privileges and Guests have the fewest.
In the summer of 2022, Notion introduced these refreshed user types to reflect its focus on larger teams. Whether you’re new to the app or a seasoned Notioneer, you’re sure to learn a lot from this comparison. It includes a visual snapshot for quick reference, followed by explanations.
As we explore their differences, keep in mind that this topic—user types—differs from sharing and Teamspace permissions. You can think of sharing and Teamspace permissions as subsets of user permissions. I explore those in other posts, videos and dedicated lessons in Notion A-to-Z.
Workspace Owners
Workspace Owners exist on every plan.
If you’re using the free Personal plan, you’re the Workspace Owner. You’ll have no Membership Admins or Members, but you can invite up to five Guests.
Workspace Owners can manage workspace settings and delete the workspace.
On applicable plans, they can bulk-manage users of every type, as well as groups and Teamspaces. Within their settings, the Workspace section contains many options unseen by other users.
Workspace Owners also determine how Members join a workspace, whether through individual invitations, a share URL, or an approved email domain.
Workspaces should have few, if not just one, Workspace Owners. At a company, it’s a best practice to make the designated Notion Champion the Workspace Owner. (Notion Champions is a formal Notion program.)
Membership Admins
On Enterprise plans, Membership Admins assist with managing Members, Guests and Groups. They can view, add and remove them in bulk, but Membership Admins are unable to access workspace settings.
At a larger company, C-level executives may serve as Membership Admins, whereas team managers are better suited to be Members and the Teamspace Owners for their applicable Teamspaces.
Members
On Team and Enterprise plans, Members are full participants of a workspace. The price of the Team plan is per-member.
Members can:
- access pages shared with “everyone” in the workspace;
- participate in Teamspaces and be designated as Teamspace Owners;
- create private pages to use independently or share with specific users; and
- be added to Groups.
At a company, full-time staff are typically Members.
Guests
A workspace Guest is invited to specific pages (and their sub-pages), not the full workspace.
Guests only see the pages they have permission to access. They’re unable to create private pages or access pages shared with “everyone,” Groups or Teamspaces.
At companies, contractors and other external collaborators are typically invited to individual pages as Guests.
All plans support Guests, but the free Personal plan allows only five.