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User Role Editor

By Vladimir Garagulya

User Management & Authentication / User Registration & Login

Reviewed by Omar Dabbas

Trusted WordPress expert with 20+ years of experience evaluating plugins for the WP ecosystem.

User Role Editor Review - In-Depth Analysis

User Role Editor plugin allows easy management of user roles and capabilities in WordPress. Edit, add, or delete roles and customize permissions effortlessly.

Performance Overview

WPS Score

7.33/10

User Rating

4.5/5 (based on 288+ reviews)

Active Installations

700,000+

Update Frequency

Outstanding It is calculated using the weighted average of same category plugins.

Security Score

7.1 / 10 (High Risk) It is calculated using the weighted average of all versions.

What It Does

User Role Editor WordPress plugin allows you to change user roles and capabilities easily. Just turn on check boxes of capabilities you wish to add to the selected role and click the 'Update' button to save your changes. That's done.

Add new roles and customize their capabilities according to your needs, either from scratch or as a copy of other existing roles. Unnecessary self-made roles can be deleted if there are no users assigned to such roles. The role assigned to every newly created user by default may also be changed.

Capabilities could be assigned on a per-user basis, and multiple roles could be assigned to a user simultaneously. You can add new capabilities and remove unnecessary ones that may have been left from uninstalled plugins. Multi-site support is provided.

Try it out on your free TasteWP test site. To read more about 'User Role Editor', visit the plugin page at shinephp.com. If you need more functionality with quality support in real time, consider the Pro version, which includes extra modules for enhanced management of user roles and capabilities.

Comparing to Alternatives

User Role Editor competes in a crowded field of role and capability management plugins. It stands out for its longevity and depth of features, but several alternatives offer similar functionality with different interfaces or specialized focuses like multisite or membership control.

Top alternatives

Strengths

Comprehensive capability editing across all roles, not just a few presets
Intuitive interface praised by non-technical users
Responsive support for setup questions
Long track record with a large, established user base

Weaknesses

Reported bugs with saving custom role capabilities in some setups
Multisite functionality does not always work as advertised
Past history of serious security vulnerabilities, including a critical privilege escalation flaw

User Sentiment Analysis

With 288 ratings and an overall score of 4.5/5, sentiment leans strongly positive, with 84.7% of reviewers giving 5 stars. However, a notable 9.7% left 1-2 star reviews, pointing to real pain points for a minority of users, particularly around reliability of custom role saving and multisite compatibility.

Positive highlights

"This one works great!" after trying two other plugins to no avail — LambrosHatzini
"Vast capabilities and is organized to make it easy to navigate" with quick, personal tech support — indivisible
"This plugin is working well... Very nice, lightest and most simple" — Pk Gibson

Common complaints

Custom user roles get set randomly or unpredictably
Uninstalling the plugin does not fully revert changes
Does not work correctly on multisite, particularly for granting plugin installation permissions
Custom role capabilities fail to save reliably, causing lost functionality after launch

Weaknesses

A critical CVSS 9 CSRF-to-privilege-escalation vulnerability was found and fixed in version 4.64.4, highlighting past security risk
Two additional historical vulnerabilities (privilege escalation and CSRF) further indicate the plugin has needed multiple security patches over time
Bug reports around custom role capability saving suggest reliability issues affect a meaningful subset of users

Who Should Use This?

Best for

Site owners and administrators who need a flexible, feature-rich tool to manage WordPress roles and capabilities on standard single-site installations, especially those comfortable following update best practices and wanting an intuitive interface backed by responsive support.

Not ideal for

Multisite network administrators, given reported compatibility issues, and anyone relying on mission-critical custom role capabilities without thorough testing. Security-conscious users should also ensure they are running the latest version, given the plugin's history of serious vulnerabilities.

Pricing & Value

Free version includes

The free version offers full capability and role editing tools, including creating custom roles, adjusting capabilities per role, and managing user assignments, making it a capable standalone solution for most single-site needs.

Pro version (29 - 318 USD / year)

The premium version typically adds features such as content permissions tied to roles, block editor restrictions, REST API control, and priority support, aimed at users needing finer-grained access control beyond basic role editing.

Final Verdict

User Role Editor has earned its strong overall rating through a feature-rich, intuitive approach to managing WordPress roles and capabilities, with many users praising its ease of use and helpful support. However, the 9.7% of negative reviews reveal genuine friction points, including unreliable custom role saving and poor multisite support, that prospective users should weigh carefully.

The plugin's security history is a legitimate concern, with a critical privilege escalation vulnerability patched as recently as late 2024, alongside two older flaws. Given the availability of numerous alternatives, users should ensure they stay current on updates if choosing this plugin, and those needing multisite support or airtight custom role reliability may want to evaluate other options first.