Overview
Managing access is critical to keeping your Polar workspace secure, efficient, and aligned with your team’s responsibilities. User roles and permissions in Polar allow you to control who can see, edit, and manage different parts of your account—from dashboards and connectors to billing and user settings.
In this article, you’ll learn:
The default user roles available in Polar
How Custom Roles work and when to use them
What each role can and cannot do
Best practices for managing access as your team grows
By the end, you’ll be able to confidently assign roles that balance collaboration with security.
Section 1: Understanding Default User Roles in Polar
Polar uses role-based access control to ensure each user has the right level of access without unnecessary permissions. Each role is designed around common responsibilities within data, analytics, and operations teams.
Available Default Roles
Admin
Admins have full control over the Polar workspace. This role is best suited for account owners, analytics leads, or operations managers.
Admins can:
Manage users and assign roles
Configure data connectors and integrations
Create, edit, and delete dashboards
Manage billing and subscription settings
Access all data and workspace settings
Editor
Editors can actively work with data and dashboards but don’t have access to sensitive account-level settings.
Editors can:
Create, edit, and delete dashboards
Modify metrics and reports
View all connected data sources
Collaborate with other users on analytics
Editors cannot:
Manage billing
Add or remove users
Change core workspace settings
Viewer
Viewers have read-only access, making this role ideal for executives, stakeholders, or partners who need visibility without editing power.
Viewers can:
View dashboards and reports
Explore data within existing views
Viewers cannot:
Edit dashboards or metrics
Access connectors or settings
Manage users or billing
Role | View Content | Edit Reports/Views | Manage Users | Manage Connectors | Edit Data Settings | Apply Filters |
Admin | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
Analyst | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
Viewer | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No | ❌ No | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
Connector | ❌ No | ❌ No | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No |
Section 2: Custom Roles (Advanced Access Control)
For teams that need more flexibility than the default roles provide, Polar offers Custom Roles. Custom Roles allow Admins to define exactly which permissions a user has, enabling more granular access control across the workspace.
This is especially useful for:
Larger organizations with specialized teams
Agencies managing client access
Finance or marketing teams that need limited editing rights
External partners who need access to specific features only
What You Can Control with Custom Roles
With Custom Roles, Admins can enable or restrict permissions such as:
Dashboard creation and editing
Metric and report management
Access to specific data sources
Connector configuration
User management
Billing and subscription access
This allows you to tailor roles like:
Marketing Editor (no data source access)
Finance Viewer with export permissions
Client Viewer limited to specific dashboards
Creating a Custom Role
To create a Custom Role:
Go to Settings → Roles & Permissions
Select Create Custom Role
Choose the permissions you want to grant
Name the role clearly (e.g. “Marketing Editor”)
Save and assign the role to users
Changes take effect immediately.
Best Practices for Custom Roles
Start with the minimum permissions needed
Use clear, descriptive role names
Avoid creating too many roles, which can become hard to manage
Review custom roles regularly as team needs evolve
Users assigned to a Custom Role will still be able to access all prebuilt dashboards, and create or edit Custom Dimensions, and Custom Metrics.
They are not able to edit any account wide settings: General, Data, or User.
Section 3: Choosing the Right Role for Your Team
Assigning the correct role helps prevent accidental changes, protects sensitive data, and keeps workflows running smoothly.
Common Role Use Cases
Founders / Ops Leads → Admin
Data & Analytics Team Members → Editor or Custom Role
Marketing & Growth Teams → Editor or Custom Role
Finance & Leadership → Viewer or Custom Role
Clients / External Partners → Viewer or Custom Role
Best Practices
Grant the lowest level of access required
Limit Admin access to a small, trusted group
Use Custom Roles instead of Admin when possible
Review user access quarterly or during team changes
Section 4: Managing and Updating User Access
Admins can manage user roles directly from the Polar workspace.
Updating a User’s Role
Navigate to Settings → Users
Select the user you want to update
Choose a default or custom role from the dropdown
Save changes
Removing or Downgrading Access
When a team member leaves or no longer needs access:
Remove the user entirely, or
Downgrade them to Viewer or a limited Custom Role
This helps keep your data secure and your workspace organized.
Conclusion
User roles and permissions in Polar give you the flexibility to collaborate confidently while maintaining control over sensitive data and settings. Default roles cover most use cases, while Custom Roles unlock advanced access control for growing or complex teams.
Key takeaways:
Admins have full control
Editors build and manage analytics
Viewers consume insights safely
Custom Roles provide fine-grained permission control