About access levels
Azure DevOps Services | Azure DevOps Server 2022 - Azure DevOps Server 2019 | TFS 2018
Access levels grant or restrict access to select web portal features. This is in addition to permissions granted through security groups, which provide or restrict specific tasks. Access levels enable administrators to provide their user base access to the features they need and only pay for those features.
Important
To view the content available for your platform, make sure that you select the correct version of this article from the version selector which is located above the table of contents. Feature support differs depending on whether you are working from Azure DevOps Services or an on-premises version of Azure DevOps Server.
To learn which on-premises version you are using, see Look up your Azure DevOps platform and version
When you add a user or group to a team or project, they're automatically granted access to those features supported by the default access level and those supported by the security group to which they are added. Most users can access most features by being assigned to the Basic access level and Contributors security group. For a simplified overview of the permissions assigned to the most common groups Readers, Contributors, and Project Administrators, see Default permissions.
To add user accounts or groups to specific access levels, see Manage users and access. Make sure to set each user's access level based on what you've purchased for that user.
To add user accounts or groups to specific access levels, see Change access levels. Make sure to set each user's access level based on what you've purchased for that user.
Supported access levels
Assign users or groups of users to one of the following access levels:
- Basic: Provides access to most features. Assign to users with a Visual Studio Professional subscription, an Azure DevOps Server CAL, and to users for whom you're paying for Basic access in an organization.
- Basic + Test Plans: Provides access to all features included in Basic, as well as Azure Test Plans. Assign to users with a Visual Studio Test Professional or MSDN Platforms subscription, and to users for whom you're paying for Basic + Test Plans access in an organization.
- Stakeholder: Can be assigned to unlimited users for free. Provides partial access to private projects and mostly full access to public projects. Assign to users with no license or subscriptions who need access to a limited set of features. For feature access details, see Stakeholder access quick reference.
- Visual Studio Subscriber: Assign to users who already have a Visual Studio subscription. The system automatically recognizes the user's subscription—Visual Studio Enterprise, Visual Studio Professional, Visual Studio Test Professional, or MSDN Platform—and enables any other features that are included in their subscription level. If you assign Basic or Stakeholder, they also receive their Visual Studio subscription benefits upon sign-in.
Tip
As a best practice when adding new users, we recommend assigning the Visual Studio Subscriber level when appropriate (as opposed to Basic) to prevent being charged the Basic rate before the user signs in for the first time.
- Stakeholder: Provides partial access, can be assigned to unlimited users for free. Assign to users with no license or subscriptions who need access to a limited set of features.
- Basic: Provides access to most features. Assign to users with an Azure DevOps Server CAL, with a Visual Studio Professional subscription, and to users for whom you're paying for Basic access in an organization.
- Basic + Test Plans: Provides access for users who have a monthly Test Manager subscription, Visual Studio Test Professional, or MSDN Platforms subscription.
- VS Enterprise: Provides access to premium features. Assign to users with a subscription to Visual Studio Enterprise.
- Stakeholder: Provides partial access, can be assigned to unlimited users for free. Assign to users with no license or subscriptions who need access to a limited set of features.
- Basic: Provides access to most features. Assign to users with a CAL or with a Visual Studio Professional subscription.
- Advanced (legacy access level, deprecated in Azure DevOps Server 2019): Provides access to premium features. Only assign to users with a subscription to MSDN Platforms or Visual Studio Test Professional.
- VS Enterprise: Provides access to premium features. Assign to users with a subscription to Visual Studio Enterprise.
The following table indicates those features available for each supported access level. Visual Studio Test Professional and MSDN Platform subscriptions grant access to the same features as Visual Studio Enterprise.
Feature
Stakeholder
Basic &
Visual Studio Professional
Basic + Test Plans &
Visual Studio Enterprise
Feature
Stakeholder
Basic &
Visual Studio Professional
Basic + Test Plans &
Visual Studio Enterprise
Feature
Stakeholder
Basic &
Visual Studio Professional
Advanced &
Visual Studio Enterprise
Administer organization
Can configure resources when also added to a security group or role: team administrator, Project Administrator, or Project Collection Administrator.
✔️
✔️
✔️
Advanced backlog and sprint planning tools
Includes full access to all backlog and sprint planning tools.
✔️
✔️
Advanced home page
Includes access to projects, work items, and pull requests defined across projects you work in.
✔️
✔️
Advanced portfolio management
Includes full access to define features and epics from a portfolio backlog or Kanban board.
✔️
✔️
Agile boards
Stakeholders have limited access to Kanban boards and Taskboards. Stakeholders can add work items and update status through drag-and-drop, but can't update fields displayed on cards (except for the work item State) and can't view or set capacity.
✔️
✔️
✔️
Agile boards
Stakeholders have limited access to Kanban boards and Taskboards. Stakeholders can't add work items, drag-and-drop cards to update status, update fields displayed on cards, nor view or set capacity.
✔️
✔️
✔️
Agile Portfolio Management
Includes limited access to portfolio backlogs and Kanban boards. Stakeholders can't change the backlog priority order, can't assign items to an iteration, use the mapping pane, or exercise forecasting.
✔️
✔️
✔️
Artifacts
Includes full access to all Azure Artifacts features, up to 2 GiB free storage.
✔️
✔️
✔️
Author Release Pipelines and Manage Releases
Includes defining release pipelines, multi-stage continuous deployment (CD) pipelines, and using approvals and gates to control deployments; when the Free access to Pipelines Preview feature is enabled, Stakeholders gain access to all Azure Pipelines features.
✔️
✔️
Basic backlog and sprint planning tools
Includes limited access to add and modify items on backlogs and sprint backlogs and taskboards. Stakeholders can't assign items to an iteration, use the mapping pane, or forecasting.
✔️
✔️
Build
Includes full access to all features to manage continuous integration and continuous delivery of software.
✔️
✔️
Chart Authoring
Can create work tracking query charts.
✔️
✔️
Chart Viewing
Can only view work tracking query charts. Stakeholders can't view query charts from the Queries page, however can view them when added to a dashboard.
✔️
✔️
Code
Includes full access to all features to manage code using Git repositories or using Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC) Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC).
✔️
✔️
Delivery Plans
Includes full access to add and view Delivery plans.
✔️
✔️
Delivery Plans
Includes full access to add and view Delivery plans.
✔️
✔️
Request and Manage Feedback Includes full access to request and manage feedback on working software.
✔️
✔️
Standard Features
Includes working across projects, View dashboards, View wikis, and Manage personal notifications. Stakeholders can't view Markdown README files defined for repositories and can only read wiki pages.
✔️
✔️
✔️
Test services in build and release
Includes running unit tests with your builds, reviewing, and analyzing test results.
✔️
✔️
Test Case Management
Includes adding test plans and test suites, creating manual test cases, deleting test artifacts, and testing different configurations.
✔️
Test Execution and Test Analysis
Includes running manual, tracking test status, and automated tests.
✔️
✔️
Test summary access to Stakeholder license
Includes requesting Stakeholder feedback using the Test & Feedback extension.
✔️
✔️
✔️
View My Work Items
Access to add and modify work items, follow work items, view and create queries, and submit, view, and change feedback responses. Stakeholders can only assign existing tags to work items (can't add new tags) and can only save queries under My Queries (can't save under Shared Queries).
✔️
✔️
✔️
View Releases and Manage Approvals
Includes viewing releases and approving releases; when the Free access to Pipelines Preview feature is enabled feature is enabled, Stakeholders gain access to all Azure Pipelines features.
✔️
✔️
✔️
Visual Studio subscription access
Visual Studio subscribers are entitled to Visual Studio subscription features as a subscriber benefit. When you add those users, be sure to assign them the Visual Studio subscription access level.
The system automatically recognizes their subscription and enables any other features that are included, based on their subscription level.
VS Enterprise access
Visual Studio Enterprise subscribers are entitled to VS Enterprise access as a subscriber benefit. When you add those users, be sure to assign them the VS Enterprise access level.
With VS Enterprise access, users have access to any fee-based, Marketplace extension published by Microsoft Marketplace extension published by Microsoft that is included for active Visual Studio Enterprise subscribers.
Advanced access
Users assigned Advanced access can manage test cases when you have purchased the Test Manager extension for Azure Test Plans and assigned to the user accounts to gain full access to Web-based test case management tools.
Users assigned Advanced access have all the Basic features, plus web-based test case management tools. You can buy monthly access or add users who already have a Visual Studio Test Professional with MSDN or MSDN Platforms subscription.
Programmatic mapping of access levels
You can manage access levels programmatically using the az devops user add (Azure DevOps Services only) or the User Entitlement - Add REST API. The following table provides a mapping of the access level selected through the user interface and the AccountLicenseType, licensingSource, and msdnLicenseType parameters.
| Access level (user interface) licenseDisplayName |
accountLicenseType | licensingSource | msdnLicenseType |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | express | account | none |
| Basic + Test Plans | advanced | account | none |
| Visual Studio Subscriber | none | msdn | eligible |
| Stakeholder | stakeholder | account | none |
| Visual Studio Enterprise subscription | none | msdn | enterprise |
Note
The earlyAdopter accountLicenseType is an internal value used solely by Microsoft.
You can manage access levels programmatically using the User Entitlement - Add REST API. The following table provides a mapping of the access level selected through the user interface and the AccountLicenseType, licensingSource, and msdnLicenseType parameters.
| Access level (user interface) licenseDisplayName |
accountLicenseType | licensingSource | msdnLicenseType |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | express | account | none |
| Basic + Test Plans | advanced | account | none |
| Visual Studio Subscriber | none | msdn | eligible |
| Stakeholder | stakeholder | account | none |
| VS Enterprise | none | msdn | enterprise |
You can manage access levels programmatically using the User Entitlement - Add REST API. The following table provides a mapping of the access level selected through the user interface and the AccountLicenseType, licensingSource, and msdnLicenseType parameters.
| Access level (user interface) licenseDisplayName |
accountLicenseType | licensingSource | msdnLicenseType |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | express | account | none |
| Advanced | advanced | account | none |
| Stakeholder | stakeholder | account | none |
| VS Enterprise | none | msdn | enterprise |
What features are available to users who are added to two different access levels?
If a user belongs to a group that has Basic access and another group that has VS Enterprise access, the user has access to all features available through VS Enterprise, which is a superset of Basic.
Service account access
Azure DevOps Server service accounts are added to the default access level. If you make Stakeholder the default access level, you must add the service accounts to Basic or Advanced/VS Enterprise access.
Service accounts don't require a CAL or other purchase.
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