---
title: "Role definition"
date: "2024-02-14T06:18:38+00:00"
summary: "Understand Drupal roles: manage user permissions, access levels, and website functions for effective site administration."
image:
type: "page"
url: "/resources/role-definition"
id: "9be2dda3-7860-4a8e-aa51-83e72ef6d59d"
---

For more information about Drupal terms and terminology, see the [Term index](/definitions). For information about managing roles and permissions in your Cloud Platform subscription, see [Working with roles and permissions](/acquia-cloud-platform/access/teams/roles).

A _role_ in Drupal is a collection of associated [permissions](/definitions/permissions) for either a website function or a level of website access, administrators can assign to user accounts.

For example, assigning an account to the _Administrator_ role on your Drupal website gives that user complete access to your website. For comparison, assigning an account to the _Anonymous_ role only grants the user limited access to your website.

To manage user roles on your Drupal website, sign in to your Drupal website as an administrator, go to **People > Permissions**, and then click **Roles**.

![Drupal roles definition](https://acquia.widen.net/content/ch9aqepcvi/jpeg/resources_roles-definition.jpeg?position=c&color=ffffffff&quality=80&u=kymscu)

By default, basic Drupal websites (without any extra changes made by a [distribution](/definitions/distribution)) include three standard roles:

*   **Anonymous**: Site visitors not signed in to your website.
*   **Authenticated**: Signed-in site visitors who are registered users on your website.
*   **Administrator**: Signed-in administrative _superusers_ of your website. This role is assigned every permission for every enabled module. Administrators have full access to all available features on your website. You should only assign the _Administrator_ role to users whom you trust.

Note

Drupal’s permissions and roles aren’t the same as Acquia’s [Teams and permissions](/acquia-cloud-platform/access/teams).