Roles in Free and Basic Plans

Zeplin’s Free and Basic plans have three primary roles: Owner, Admin, and Member. These roles are project-specific and have the same overall access. One exception is that on the Free plan, only the Owner can publish designs, while on the Basic plan, all roles can.

Owner

This role is automatically assigned to the person who creates the project; they’re the owner of the Free or the Basic plan subscription. They can create, edit, delete, transfer projects and styleguides, publish designs, and all of the below.

Admins

An additional Admin role can be assigned to each project to help manage them individually. Project Admins can manage comments and annotations added to screens, archive or activate projects and styleguides, and all of the below.

Members

This role is assigned to any user on the project. They are able to:

publish designs (only on the Basic plan)
inspect designs (get values, code snippets, and assets)
compare versions
organize projects (with sections, tags, and variants)
create documentation (with annotations and flows)
request approvals
set up styleguides (add components, colors, and text styles)
add integrations

Permissions	Owner	Admin	Member
Publish designs Publish, edit, and delete designs	✅	✅ Basic ❌ Free	✅ Basic ❌ Free
Inspect designs Get values & code, download assets, compare versions	✅	✅	✅
Change project contents Create, edit, and delete sections, tags, annotations, flows, styleguides, and more	✅	✅	✅
Manage annotations & comments Create, edit, and delete annotations and comments	✅	✅	✅ Own comment
Set up integrations Add any integration or extension	✅	✅	✅
Manage projects & styleguides Create, edit, delete projects and styleguides	✅	❌	❌
Archive or activate projects and styleguides	✅	✅ Basic ❌ Free	❌
Manage members Add, remove project or styleguide members and assign them roles	✅	✅	✅ Add only Members

💁‍♀️ You can learn how to assign roles on the Free and Basic plans from this article: Assigning roles to project members on Free and Basic plans

Roles in Advanced and Enterprise Plans

Zeplin’s Advanced and Enterprise plans have four roles with distinct permissions besides Owner: Admin, Editor, Developer, and Reviewer.

Admin

This role is usually assigned to team leads or teammates who do the Zeplin implementation — can manage user access, projects, workspace settings, billing, and advanced security settings (on Enterprise only). They can also delete comments, annotations, and approvals. Admins inherit all capabilities of the roles below..

💁‍♀️ The Owner is also considered an Admin. The Owner is automatically assigned to the person who subscribes to Advanced or Enterprise plans.

Editor

This role is usually assigned to designers responsible for handing off designs to development — can publish, edit, and delete designs, organize projects (with sections, tags, and variants), and set up styleguides (add components, colors, and text styles). PMs are occasionally assigned the Editor role as well, to organize and document designs further. Editors inherit all capabilities of the roles below.

Developer

This role is usually assigned to developers, PMs, QA, BA, or other technical roles — can access specs and requirements. They are able to:

inspect designs (copy values and code, download assets)
see version history and compare versions
view styleguides (components, color/text styles, and tokens)
add design documentation (with annotations and flows)
request approvals
set up integrations

Reviewers

This role is usually assigned to clients, leads, execs, marketing, success, or support teams to view all information in a project without accessing technical specs — from uploaded designs, styleguides, and version history to annotations and flows. Reviewers can also sign off on approvals.

Permissions	Admin	Editor	Developer	Reviewer
See designs & give feedback View designs and documentation, add comments, request approvals	✅	✅	✅	✅
Inspect designs & add documentation Copy values & code, download assets. Compare versions. Create annotations & flows.	✅	✅	✅	❌
Publish designs Publish, edit, and delete designs	✅	✅	❌	❌
Organize designs Create, edit, and delete sections, tags, and variants	✅	✅	❌	❌
Set up Integrations Add any integration or extension	✅	✅	✅	❌
Manage projects & styleguides Create, edit, and delete projects and styleguides	✅	✅	❌	❌
Manage shared workspace Manage users, projects, and billing (plus security settings on Enterprise)	✅	❌	❌	❌

💁‍♀️ You can learn how to assign roles on the Advanced and Enterprise plans from this article: Assigning roles to workspace members