Client access levels should match what a client needs to do: see what is planned, approve what goes out, or connect their own accounts. In SkedCast, clients approve through guest links without an account, connect accounts through a connect link, and team members get roles per client, platform or channel.
Key takeaways
- SkedCast has three workspace roles (Owner, Manager, Member) and five access roles a Member holds per client, platform or channel.
- Owners and Managers always see every client; a Member sees only where their access reaches.
- A client who is not on the team can approve a post through a signed link, with no account, from the Studio plan.
- A client can connect their own social accounts through a separate signed invite link, also without a login.
- A client who wants to browse the workspace can be invited as a Member with Viewer access to their own client, which uses a team seat.
On this page
What client access levels does a social media tool offer?
Access is enforced by the API on every request and by the database. Every access role can read what it covers; a Viewer changes nothing.
- Owner: everything, including billing and plan changes, deleting clients, closing the workspace and changing Managers.
- Manager: works across every client: manages clients, connects and manages accounts, decides approvals, runs reports, and invites Members and sets their access (only the Owner adds a Manager).
- Member with Viewer access: reads posts, the calendar, the inbox, analytics, reports and media where their access reaches. Changes nothing.
- Member with Contributor access: writes posts and uploads media; every post goes to approval.
- Member with Publisher access: writes, schedules and publishes posts, and answers the inbox.
- Member with Community manager access: runs the inbox (reply, moderate, assign, rules) without creating posts.
- Member with Editor access: everything a Publisher does, plus anyone's posts, approvals, approval links, automation and the client's settings.
How do you limit someone to certain clients?
Each Member's access is a list of places with an access role on each: the whole workspace, a client (with every channel in it, including ones connected later), one platform of a client, or one channel. Access only adds up: Viewer on a client and Publisher on its Instagram means reading the client and publishing on Instagram. Owners and Managers are not narrowed. Team invitations carry the role (Member or Manager; never Owner, and only an Owner can invite a Manager or cancel a Manager invite) and the access, and the invitee accepts by a signed link. Pending invitations and members both count toward the plan's seat limit.
How can a client approve posts without an account?
An Owner, a Manager or an Editor on the client can share a pending approval as a signed, expiring link (one hour to seven days, 72 hours by default), optionally emailing it to the reviewer. The client opens it without a login and sees the post's copy, media and platforms under your agency's name, then approves, requests changes or rejects, with a comment required for the last two. This is the "approver" level in practice. Guest links and multi-stage chains start on the Studio plan. See multi-step approval.
How can a client connect their own accounts?
A separate signed, single-use, expiring invite link lets a client connect their social accounts to your workspace through each platform's official sign-in, without sharing passwords and without a SkedCast account. The link carries no role: it can only connect accounts to the client it was created for. This is the usual way to onboard a client without asking for their login details.
Can a client browse their own calendar?
If the client wants to look around rather than approve one post at a time, invite them as a Member with Viewer access to their own client. They can read what that access covers, and cannot change anything. They are a team member, so they use a seat; on plans with few seats it may be more economical to send approval links and reports instead.
There is also a signed, read-only link for sharing a media library folder with someone outside the team, for example a client who needs to see the assets you have collected.
How does this compare with other tools?
Each vendor draws the lines differently. From their own pages on 2026-09-23:
- Planable: clients are invited as "Client" members with selectable permissions such as Approver, and new posts can be created hidden from clients until you are ready. Planable: client approval.
- Sprout Social: external approvers (people without a Sprout account, up to three) are an Advanced-plan feature. Sprout: external approvers.
- Later: configurable roles and permissions are listed on Growth and above. Later pricing.
- Buffer: "Access levels" is listed on its Team plan. Buffer pricing.
- SkedCast: three workspace roles and five access roles set per client, platform or channel, plus signed client links.
How should you set it up for a new client?
Send the connect invite first so the client links their own accounts. Decide whether the client approves each post: if so, configure the approval chain and mint approval links as posts reach the client stage. Give your own team the narrowest access role that lets them do their job, on the clients or channels they work on, and reserve Manager and Owner for the people who genuinely need to decide, connect and bill.
Sources and last reviewed
Last reviewed 2026-09-23. Statements about SkedCast were checked against the product's code and docs; statements about other vendors were read from the pages listed on that date. Vendors change plans without notice, so confirm on their page before you buy.
FAQ
- Can I add my own roles in SkedCast?
- Not today. SkedCast has five built-in access roles (Viewer, Contributor, Publisher, Community manager, Editor) that you give per client, platform or channel, and they add up, so most setups are a combination of them. Clients outside the team take part through signed links instead.
- Can a client approve a post without logging in?
- Yes, from the Studio plan: an Owner, a Manager or an Editor on the client shares a signed, expiring link. The client can approve, request changes or reject, and must comment on the last two.
- Can clients connect their own social accounts?
- Yes, through a signed, single-use, expiring invite link that uses each platform's official sign-in. No password is shared and no SkedCast account is needed.
- What can a Viewer do?
- A Member with Viewer access reads what that access covers, such as posts, the calendar, the inbox, approvals, analytics and reports. They cannot create, edit, approve or connect anything.
- Do read-only teammates count toward my seat limit?
- Yes: team members and pending invitations both count toward the plan's seat limit, whatever their role. Approval links and shared reports do not use a seat.