TL;DR
Team roles in Plutio let you create custom permission sets that control what each team member can view, create, edit, and delete across every module, from projects and invoices to contracts and files.
Plutio ships with four built-in roles (Owner, Co-Owner, Team, and Client) and lets you create unlimited custom roles with granular permissions across 15+ modules. The difference between a team role system and basic user permissions: roles are reusable templates, so adding a new contractor takes 30 seconds instead of configuring 40+ permission toggles from scratch every time.
Roles are managed in Settings under Permissions. Each role controls access to projects, tasks, task boards, invoices, recurring billing, transactions, proposals, contracts, forms, time tracking, scheduling, automations, inbox, wiki, templates, files, folders, trash, archive, custom fields, and snippets. Owners can also customize which sidebar menu items each role sees through Settings under Main Menu.
What team roles are in Plutio
Team roles are named permission sets that define what a user can access across every Plutio module, applied at the account level so every project, invoice, and file inherits the same access rules automatically.
When a team member joins a Plutio workspace, they're assigned a role. The assigned role determines which features appear in their sidebar, which records they can view or edit, and which actions (create, delete, send, update status) are available. Permissions are configured per module with individual toggle switches, so a "Designer" role might have full access to projects and files but zero visibility into invoices and transactions.
Built-in roles vs custom roles
Plutio includes four built-in roles. The Owner role has full access to everything and can't be restricted. The Co-Owner role mirrors Owner access but can't delete the business account. The Team role is a default starting point for employees and contractors, with permissions that can be adjusted. The Client role controls what external clients see in the client portal and is locked from renaming to prevent confusion in client-facing views. Beyond these four, you can create unlimited custom roles with any name: "Designer," "Project Manager," "Bookkeeper," "VA," or any title that fits the team structure.
Granular module-level permissions
Each role's permissions are organized by module: contacts (people and companies), projects (including task boards, task groups, and individual tasks), files and folders, financials (invoices, recurring billing, and transactions), proposals, contracts, forms, time tracking, scheduling, automations, inbox, wiki, templates, trash, archive, custom fields, and snippets. Within each module, permissions break down into specific actions: view, create, edit, delete, send/email, update status, and in some cases view billing rates or view cost data. The practical result: a bookkeeper can view invoices and transactions without seeing project task boards, and a project manager can manage tasks and files without accessing financial data.
We have six people on the team and every one of them sees a different Plutio. Our designer doesn't know what we charge clients, our VA can't touch contracts, and our bookkeeper only sees invoices. Took 10 minutes to set up.
Why team roles matter for growing teams
Without role-based permissions, every team member in a workspace has the same level of access, which means a part-time contractor can view every client's invoice, a virtual assistant can delete signed contracts, and a new hire can edit project budgets before their first week is over.
On a 5-person team managing 10 active client projects, unrestricted access means financial details, client communications, and internal pricing are visible to everyone. A single accidental deletion of a sent invoice or a signed contract creates hours of recovery work and a client conversation nobody wants to have. Agencies billing $5,000 to $15,000 per project can't afford a team member accidentally changing an invoice amount or sending a draft proposal to a client.
Project management tools like Asana limit role configuration to predefined tiers (Admin, Member, Guest) with no module-level permission control, so giving a contractor access to tasks also exposes them to project-level settings. ClickUp includes custom roles only on its Enterprise plan, which starts above $7/member/month and requires annual billing, putting granular permissions out of reach for teams under 20 people.
The most common access control failure isn't malicious: a team member edits something they shouldn't have access to because the tool never restricted it, and the mistake surfaces days later when a client flags an incorrect invoice or a missing file.
Plutio's approach assigns permissions at the role level, not the individual level, so when a new team member joins, they inherit the exact access rules the role already defines. No manual configuration per person, no forgetting to restrict a module, and no gap between what a team member should see and what they actually see.
How team roles work in Plutio
Open Settings, go to Permissions, create a new role, name it, configure permissions module by module, and assign team members to the role.
Before starting, make sure the workspace has at least one team member invited. Role creation and editing are available to Owner and Co-Owner accounts.
Step by step
- Step 1: Go to Settings and select Permissions from the sidebar. The page shows all existing custom roles.
- Step 2: Click the "Create" button to add a new role. Enter a name (e.g., "Designer", "Bookkeeper", "Project Manager") and save.
- Step 3: Open the new role to see all permission categories: Contacts, Projects, Files, Financials, Proposals, Contracts, Forms, Timesheets, Schedulers, Automations, Inbox, Wiki, Templates, Trash, Archive, Custom Fields, and Snippets. Each category expands into individual toggle switches.
- Step 4: Toggle each permission on or off. For example, turn on "View" and "Create" under Projects but turn off "Delete". Turn off everything under Financials to hide invoices entirely from this role.
- Step 5: Go to the People section, open a team member's profile, and assign the new role. The member's access updates immediately across every module.
To verify what a role actually sees, use the "View as" button on the role's permission page. Plutio loads a preview of the workspace as that role experiences it, showing exactly which sidebar items, records, and actions are available. The "View as" preview is the fastest way to catch a permission gap before a team member reports it.
Who needs team roles
Any freelancer or agency with two or more people in a workspace benefits from team roles, but the value scales directly with team size and the sensitivity of the data being managed.
Freelancers working with a virtual assistant on a $3,000/month retainer use roles to give the VA access to tasks, scheduling, and inbox while keeping invoices, proposals, and financial reports restricted. A VA who can manage project tasks and respond to client messages but can't view billing rates or send invoices is more useful than a VA with full access who might accidentally expose pricing to a client.
Agencies with 5 to 15 team members running concurrent client projects use custom roles to separate operational access from financial access. A "Designer" role sees projects, tasks, and files. A "Project Manager" role adds proposal and contract visibility. A "Finance" role accesses invoices, transactions, and recurring billing but doesn't see project task boards. Each role maps to a job function, and onboarding a new team member takes under a minute because the permissions are already configured.
Teams evaluating Asana alternatives or comparing ClickUp vs Asana often land on permissions as a deciding factor, because neither tool offers module-level custom roles on plans under $10/member/month. Plutio includes unlimited custom roles on the Pro plan at $49/month (flat, not per seat) and the Max plan at $199/month, so a 10-person agency pays the same as a 3-person team.
Bottom line: if more than one person touches client data in a workspace, role-based permissions are the difference between controlled access and hoping nobody clicks the wrong button.
