Need to give someone access to your Squarespace website? Whether you're working with a designer, developer, or team member, Squarespace makes it easy to invite contributors with customizable permission levels.
In this guide, I'll walk you through how to add administrators and contributors to your Squarespace site, explain permission levels, and share best practices for managing access.
How Squarespace Contributors Work
Squarespace calls the people you invite "contributors." You give each one or more permission roles, like Administrator, Website editor or Store manager, and those roles control what they can see and change.
You can invite contributors to help with:
- Website design and content
- Blog management
- E-commerce and inventory
- Analytics and SEO
- Domain and email settings
Squarespace Permission Levels Explained
When you invite a contributor, you can toggle specific permissions on or off:
Administrator
- Access: Almost everything the owner has, including design, content, billing, domains and settings
- Can: Everything except transfer ownership of the site (only the owner can do that)
- Best for: Business partners, agency owners, trusted developers
- Warning: Only give this to people you completely trust
Website Editor
- Access: Edit content on existing pages
- Can: Add blocks, products and other content to existing pages, but can't add new pages, change styles or edit page settings
- Best for: Staff who update text, photos and products (designers need Administrator)
Store Manager
- Access: Manage products, orders, and inventory
- Can: Add products, fulfill and refund orders, and invoice clients
- Best for: E-commerce managers, fulfillment team
Comment Moderator
- Access: Manage comments on blog posts
- Can: Review and post blog comments without moderation, and get emails about new comments
- Best for: Community managers
Combining Roles
- Access: Any mix of the roles above
- Can: Only perform the exact tasks you enable
- Best for: Specialized roles (like someone who only manages your email campaigns)
How to Add a Contributor to Your Squarespace Website
Step-by-Step Instructions:
- Log into your Squarespace account
- If you manage multiple sites, select the site you want to add a contributor to
- Click Settings in the left sidebar
- Open Permissions & Ownership
- Click Invite Contributor
- In the popup window:
- Enter the contributor's name and email address
- Toggle permissions on or off based on what they need access to
- Click Invite
The contributor will receive an email invitation to access your site.
What Your Contributor Sees
After you send the invitation, your contributor will:
- Receive an email from Squarespace
- Click Accept Invitation
- Log into their Squarespace account (or create one if they don't have one)
- See your site in their Squarespace dashboard with the permissions you assigned
They can now work on your site based on the access you granted.
Available Squarespace Permissions
Here's a breakdown of what each permission allows:
Website Permissions:
- Administrator: Full access to pages, design, settings, billing and domains
- Analytics: View site traffic and performance data
- Website editor: Add and edit content on existing pages, but not add pages, change styles or edit page settings
- Comment moderator: Review and post blog comments
- Email Campaigns editor: Create, send and track marketing emails
- Viewer: See the site while it's private or password-protected
Commerce Permissions:
- Store manager: Add products, manage orders and invoice clients. Store settings like tax, shipping and payments stay with the owner and administrators.
- Scheduling roles: If you use Acuity Scheduling, you can give someone Scheduling administrator, view & edit, or view-only access
Administrative Permissions:
- Billing: View and manage billing and subscription information
- Contributors: Only the owner and administrators can invite, edit or remove contributors
- Transfer ownership: Only the site owner can do this, and it can't be given to anyone else
Tip: You can give one person several roles. Administrator already includes everything, so the other toggles switch off when you pick it.
How to Edit or Remove a Contributor
Need to change someone's access or remove them entirely?
To Edit Permissions:
- Go to Settings → Permissions and Ownership
- Find the contributor in the list
- Click their name to open their permissions
- Toggle permissions on or off
- Click Save
To Remove a Contributor:
- Go to Settings → Permissions and Ownership
- Find the contributor
- Click the ... menu, then Remove Contributor
- Confirm removal
Changes take effect immediately.
How Many Contributors Can You Have?
It depends on your plan. Basic allows one contributor besides you (two people total). Core, Plus and Advanced allow unlimited contributors. Adding contributors doesn't cost extra.
If you're on Basic and need more people, you'll need to upgrade.
Squarespace Contributor Best Practices
Security Tips:
- Only give necessary permissions: Don't enable access to areas they don't need
- Be careful with billing access: Only trusted people should see payment information
- Review contributors regularly: Remove access for anyone no longer working with you
- Use strong passwords: Encourage contributors to use unique, secure passwords
- Enable 2FA: Both you and contributors should enable two-factor authentication
When to Use Each Permission Level:
- Administrator: Business partners, or a designer or agency managing the whole site
- Website editor: Staff who update text, photos and products
- Store manager: Store staff and fulfillment team
- Analytics only: Marketing consultants analyzing performance
- Email Campaigns editor: Email marketing specialists
Transferring Ownership of Your Squarespace Site
Need to completely transfer your site to someone else?
- Go to Settings → Permissions and Ownership
- Invite the new owner as a contributor first, and wait for them to accept
- Click your name under Owner, then click Transfer Ownership
- Log in again to confirm, pick the new owner from the list, then click Continue and Confirm
After the transfer, the new owner should update the billing details, and can remove you or limit your access if you no longer need it.
Troubleshooting Common Issues
"My contributor didn't receive the invitation email"
- Check their spam/junk folder
- Verify the email address is correct
- Click their name under Invites Sent and copy the invitation link to send them directly
"Contributor says they can't access certain features"
- Review their permissions and ensure the correct toggles are enabled
- They may need to refresh the page or log out and back in
"I can't find Permissions and Ownership"
- Only the owner and administrators can manage contributors, so check that your account has one of those roles
- Check you've selected the correct site if you manage multiple sites
"Can a contributor invite other contributors?"
- Only if you've made them an Administrator
- Otherwise, only you (the owner) and administrators can invite people
Squarespace vs Other Platforms
Here's how Squarespace's contributor setup compares:
- Wix: Also has preset roles, and lets you build custom roles, so both give you good control
- Simpler than WordPress: No plugins needed for advanced permissions
- Seats: Squarespace Core and higher include unlimited contributors. Wix includes a set number of free collaborator seats, which depends on your site type.
Need Help Managing Your Squarespace Website?
Squarespace is user-friendly, but knowing how to structure permissions, manage contributors, and optimize your site for performance can be tricky.
I help small businesses and professionals get the most out of their websites—from design and SEO to team management and technical optimization.
Book a free 15–30 minute call and I'll walk through your setup with you, no strings attached.
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Summary
Adding a contributor to Squarespace is simple:
- Go to Settings → Permissions and Ownership
- Click Invite Contributor
- Enter their name and email
- Toggle the permissions they need
- Click Invite
Remember to:
- Only enable permissions they actually need
- Avoid giving billing access unless necessary
- Review contributors regularly and remove inactive accounts
- Use strong passwords and enable 2FA
For more information, visit Squarespace's official contributor documentation.
Questions about managing your Squarespace site? Let's chat—I'm here to help.
