Administrator

The Administrator is the most powerful role on a single WordPress site. An Administrator can change every setting, manage every user and add or remove any plugin or theme.

When you install WordPress, the account you create during setup becomes the first Administrator. So, if you own the site, this role is most probably yours.

What can an Administrator do?

Think of the Administrator as the principal of a school. The principal sets the rules, hires the staff and can walk into any classroom. Here are some jobs that only this role can do on a normal site:

• Install, update, activate and delete plugins and themes.
• Add new users, change their roles and delete accounts.
• Change everything under Settings, such as the site title, permalinks and reading options.
• Edit menus, widgets and the overall design of the site.
• Import and export the site's content.

On a Multisite network, some of these powers move to the Super Admin. For example, a site Administrator there cannot install new plugins or themes.

How many Administrators should a site have?

As few as possible. Every Administrator account is one more door a hacker can try, and one careless click from any admin can break the whole site.

I always keep my own admin account only for maintenance work and do my daily writing from a lower role. If you hire a developer, create a temporary Administrator account for them and delete it once the job is done.

How to keep the admin account safe

• Use a long, unique password and avoid the username "admin".
• Add two-factor authentication with a security plugin.
• Check Users → All Users now and then and remove any Administrators you don't recognize.

If you ever lose access to your own account, our guide on what to do when you are locked out of the WordPress admin comes handy.

In short, the Administrator role is the master key to your site, so hand it out rarely. That's it. If you have any questions about managing admins, drop them in the comment section below.