Following table shows capabilities of different role types WordPress offers. Here I have listed capabilities unique to the role. Each role inherits all the capabilities from its lower capability roles.
The subscribers are having the lowest capabilities. While the Admins (or Super Admins if multi-site) are having maximum capabilities.
For example: Author's total capabilities = Author's Capabilities + Contributor's Capabilities + Subscriber's Capabilities.
| Roles | Summary | Capabilities |
| Super Admin | Somebody with access to the site network administration features and all other features. | create_sites, delete_sites, manage_network, manage_sites, manage_network_users, manage_network_plugins, manage_network_themes, manage_network_options, upgrade_network, setup_network |
| Administrator | Somebody who has access to all the administration features within a single site. | activate_plugins, edit_dashboard, edit_theme_options, export, import, list_users, manage_options, promote_users, remove_users, switch_themes, customize, delete_siteOnly Administrators of single site installations have the following capabilities. In Multisite, only the Super Admin has these abilities: update_core, update_plugins, update_themes, install_plugins, install_themes, delete_themes, delete_plugins, edit_plugins, edit_themes, edit_files, edit_users, add_users, create_users, delete_users |
| Editor | Somebody who can publish and manage posts including the posts of other users. | delete_others_pages, delete_others_posts, delete_pages, delete_private_pages, delete_private_posts, delete_published_pages, edit_others_pages, edit_others_posts, edit_pages, edit_private_pages, edit_private_posts, edit_published_pages, manage_categories, manage_links, moderate_comments, publish_pages, read_private_pages, read_private_posts, unfiltered_html (not with Multisite), delete Reusable Blocks, edit Reusable Blocks |
| Author | Somebody who can publish and manage their own posts. | delete_published_posts, edit_published_posts, publish_posts, upload_files, create Reusable Blocks, edit Reusable Blocks (own), delete Reusable Blocks (own) |
| Contributor | Somebody who can write and manage their own posts but cannot publish them. | delete_posts, edit_posts, read Reusable Blocks |
| Subscriber | Somebody who can only manage their profile. | read |