User Guides
Team members and roles
What account administrators and members can see and do in FormBackend
FormBackend uses two layers of access control on Business plans and above.
Account roles decide who can manage billing, invite teammates, and administer projects. Project membership decides which forms, submissions, and project settings a non-admin can open.
This guide explains what each role can and cannot see, and how the two layers work together.
Quick reference
| Capability | Account owner | Account admin | Account member |
|---|---|---|---|
| See all forms in the account | Yes | Yes | Only unassigned forms plus forms in projects they belong to |
| View submissions for accessible forms | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Edit forms, builder, settings, integrations for accessible forms | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Create forms | Yes | Yes | Yes (subject to plan limits) |
| Invite or remove account teammates | Yes | Yes | No |
| Change another person’s account role | Yes | Yes | No |
| Manage billing and subscription | Yes (owner holds the subscription) | Yes | No |
| Add or remove people on a project | Yes | Yes | No |
| Delete a project | Yes | Yes | No |
| View the Team members page | Yes | Yes | Yes (read-only) |
| Manage sender domains for the account | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Manage account-wide email templates | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Manage personal API keys | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Project membership roles (Admin and Member badges on the project Members tab) are shown in the UI but do not change permissions today. Access to a project is all-or-nothing. Either someone can open everything in that project, or they cannot.
Account roles
Every person on a FormBackend account has one account role.
Owner
The owner is the person who created the account or received ownership through account setup. The owner is always an account administrator.
Owners have every capability listed for account admins below. In addition:
- The subscription and payment method belong to the owner. Plan features for the whole account are determined by the owner’s subscription.
- The owner cannot be removed from the administrator role.
- The owner cannot be deleted from the account while they remain owner.
The Team members page shows Owner alongside Admin for the account owner.
Account administrator
Account administrators manage the account and can see everything inside it.
Can do
- See every project and every form, including forms that are not assigned to a project.
- Invite new teammates and manage pending invitations.
- Change another person’s account role or remove them from the account.
- Open Settings → Billing, view charges, and manage the subscription (when the logged-in user is the account owner or an admin viewing billing on the owner’s account).
- Add or remove account members on individual projects.
- Delete projects.
- Complete the onboarding wizard when it appears for new accounts.
Cannot do
- Remove the owner’s administrator role.
- Remove the account owner from the account.
Account member
Account members collaborate on forms they are explicitly given access to. They do not manage account-wide settings that affect billing or membership.
Can do
- See forms that are not assigned to any project. These appear in the unorganized section on the Forms home page.
- See forms inside projects where they have been added on the Members tab.
- Open submissions, edit form settings, use the form builder, configure integrations, export data, and perform other day-to-day form work for forms they can access.
- Create new forms within plan limits.
- Create projects when the account’s plan includes the Projects feature. When a member creates a project, they are added to that project’s member list automatically.
- Edit project settings (name, time zone, assigned forms, and similar) for projects they can access.
- View the Team members page to see who is on the account.
- View the Members tab on a project they can access.
- Manage their own profile, password, connected accounts, API keys, and authorized OAuth applications under Settings.
- View account Usage.
Cannot do
- See forms inside projects they have not been added to.
- Invite people to the account or change account roles.
- Add or remove people on a project’s Members tab.
- Delete a project.
- Manage billing or change the subscription. The Billing tab in Settings is hidden, and the billing page shows a message to contact an account administrator.
- Resume a paused subscription.
If a member tries to open a form or project they cannot access, FormBackend redirects them with an authorization error.
How form visibility works
FormBackend decides what someone can open using this order:
- Is the form on this account? Users only ever see forms belonging to the account they are signed into.
- Is the form assigned to a project?
- No project: Every account member can see and work with the form.
- Inside a project: Account administrators always have access. Account members need a project membership row for that project.
This applies across the dashboard, submissions, form settings, the hosted form builder, exports, form rules, webhooks, and the API. If someone cannot access a form in the UI, API and MCP requests for that form are rejected as well.
Example
An account has two projects, Marketing and Support, and one form with no project assigned.
| Person | Marketing form | Support form | Unassigned form |
|---|---|---|---|
| Account admin | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Member on Marketing only | Yes | No | Yes |
| Member on Support only | No | Yes | Yes |
| Member on neither project | No | No | Yes |
Assign sensitive forms to projects and only add the people who need them. Leave broadly shared forms unassigned if every teammate should see them.
Project membership
Projects group forms, integrations, email templates, and time-zone settings. They also define the access boundary for account members.
Who can access a project
| Person | Access |
|---|---|
| Account administrator | Automatic access to every project |
| Account owner | Automatic access to every project |
| Account member | Only projects listed on their membership |
When a project is created, the account owner is added as a member. If someone other than the owner creates the project, that creator is added as a member too.
Managing project members
Only account administrators can:
- Open the Add Member control on a project’s Members tab.
- Remove a member from a project.
To add someone to a project, they must already belong to the account. Invite them under Team members first, then add them to the relevant projects.
Account administrators appear on every project’s member list and cannot be removed from individual projects. The UI labels them Account Admin.
Project Admin vs Member badges
The Members tab shows a badge of Admin or Member for each person. These labels reflect how someone was added:
- The account owner and the person who created the project receive an Admin badge when the project is created.
- People added through Add Member receive a Member badge.
Today these badges are informational. A person with a Member badge has the same access to forms and project settings as someone with an Admin badge, as long as they are on the member list. Permission differences are controlled by account role (administrator vs member), not by the project badge.
Inviting teammates
Team invitations are available on Business plans and above, which include the Team members (collaborators) feature.
Only account administrators can send, edit, or cancel invitations.
Invitation flow
- An administrator opens Team members in the sidebar and clicks Invite.
- They enter the invitee’s name, email, and account role (Admin or Member).
- FormBackend sends an invitation email. Pending invitations appear on the Team members page with an Awaiting response badge.
- The invitee creates an account or signs in, accepts the invitation, and joins the account with the role that was chosen.
Administrators can copy an invitation link from the Team members page while an invitation is pending.
Choosing Admin vs Member at invite time
| Invite as | Best for |
|---|---|
| Admin | Co-founders, agency leads, or anyone who should manage billing, invite others, and see every project |
| Member | Contractors, support staff, or teammates who should only work inside specific projects |
You can change a person’s account role later on the Team members page unless they are the account owner.
Navigation and settings by role
Both account administrators and account members see the main sidebar links for Home, Projects, Email templates, Sender Domains, Team members, and Settings.
Differences appear in settings and administrative actions:
| Area | Account admin | Account member |
|---|---|---|
| Settings → Profile, Password, Connected accounts | Yes | Yes |
| Settings → Billing | Yes | Hidden |
| Settings → Usage | Yes | Yes |
| Settings → API keys | Yes | Yes |
| Settings → Authorized apps | Yes | Yes |
| Team members → Invite button | Yes (on eligible plans) | Hidden |
| Team members → Edit / remove members | Yes | Hidden |
| Project → Members → Add / Remove | Yes | Hidden |
| Onboarding wizard prompt | Shown to admins | Not shown |
Sender domains and account-wide email templates are shared across the account. Any signed-in teammate can create or change them today, not only administrators. Keep this in mind when deciding who receives an account administrator role.
API and MCP access
API keys belong to individual users, not roles. Any account member can create keys under Settings → API keys.
What a key can reach still follows form visibility rules. A key owned by an account member only lists and modifies forms that member could open in the dashboard. Keys cannot bypass project restrictions.
Each key can be scoped with separate read and write permissions for forms and submissions.
Plan requirements
| Feature | Minimum plan | Who it affects |
|---|---|---|
| Invite teammates (collaborators) | Business | Account administrators can invite; members join via invitation |
| Projects | Business | Group forms and restrict member visibility by project |
| Project-specific integrations | Business (with project integrations) | Available inside projects the user can access |
Features such as custom sender domains, custom email templates, Slack, and Google Sheets depend on the account owner’s subscription. They apply account-wide regardless of a teammate’s role, as long as that person can reach the form or project where the feature is used.
Common setups
Agency with client projects
Make project managers account Administrators so they can invite freelancers and assign them to client projects. Invite freelancers as Members and add them only to the projects they should see.
Small team with shared inbox forms
Leave shared forms unassigned to any project so every member can access them. Create projects only when you need to separate departments or clients.
Owner plus one helper
Invite the helper as an account Member, create a project for the forms they should manage, and add them on the project’s Members tab. The owner retains billing control and full visibility.
Frequently asked questions
Can a member see billing or change the plan?
No. Billing is limited to account administrators. Members should ask an administrator to change plans or payment methods.
Can a member invite someone else?
No. Only account administrators can send invitations.
I added someone to the account. Why can't they see my form?
The form is probably inside a project they were not added to. Either add them on that project’s Members tab, or move the form out of the project if everyone on the account should access it.
Does project Admin let someone manage members?
No. Only account administrators can add or remove project members. The project Admin badge does not grant extra permissions.
Can administrators be removed from a project?
No. Account administrators always have access to every project and appear as Account Admin on the member list. They cannot be removed from an individual project.
What happens when an administrator is demoted to member?
They keep their user account but lose administrator capabilities. They will only see forms in projects they belong to plus any unassigned forms. They will no longer see forms in projects where they lack membership unless someone adds them.
Is there a separate FormBackend staff role?
FormBackend operators may have an internal platform administrator flag for support and internal tools. That is not part of customer account roles and is not assignable from the Team members page.
Related guides
- Projects and team access — create projects, assign forms, and manage project members
- Manage submissions — work with submission data inside forms you can access
- API authentication — authenticate API requests and scope keys to your accessible forms