Summary and recommendation
Qualtrics user management can be run manually, but complexity usually increases with role models, licensing gates, and offboarding dependencies. This guide gives the exact mechanics and where automation has the biggest impact.
Qualtrics user management is administered through Account Settings → Admin → Users tab, accessible only to Brand Administrators or Division Administrators.
The permission model is hybrid: three role tiers (Brand Admin, Division Admin, Standard User) are layered with per-user permission toggles covering survey creation, distribution, response export, XM Directory access, contacts management, and reporting.
Brand Admins can package these toggles into reusable Permission Sets and apply them as division defaults or per-user overrides.
Licensing is interaction/response-based rather than purely seat-based. Named user counts may be capped by contract, and any additions or overages require direct coordination with the Qualtrics account team.
Usage visibility lives under Account Settings → Admin → License tab.
Quick facts
| Admin console path | Account Settings → Admin (top navigation) → Users tab |
| Admin console URL | Official docs |
| SCIM available | Yes |
| SCIM tier required | Enterprise |
| SSO prerequisite | Yes |
User types and roles
| Role | Permissions | Cannot do | Plan required | Seat cost | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand Administrator | Full administrative access across the entire Qualtrics brand: create/edit/delete users, manage divisions, configure SSO, set default permission sets, view all surveys and data within the brand, manage billing and license settings. | Cannot exceed the response or feature limits set by the purchased license contract. | Only one or a small number of Brand Admins are typically provisioned per contract; adding more requires coordination with Qualtrics account team. | ||
| Division Administrator | Can create and manage users within their assigned division, set division-level default permissions, and view surveys within the division. Can act as admin for a subset of the brand. | Cannot manage users or settings outside their assigned division; cannot modify brand-level settings or SSO configuration. | Division Admin rights are granted by a Brand Admin; the Division Admin role is additive to a standard user account, not a separate license type. | ||
| Standard User | Access determined by the permission set applied to their account. Typically can create surveys, distribute, and view results within their own projects. Collaboration and sharing depend on permissions granted. | Cannot access Admin panel, manage other users, or change brand/division settings unless specific admin permissions are granted. | Permissions are highly granular and set per user or via a permission set template; a user with no permissions enabled cannot create surveys even if they have a seat. |
Permission model
- Model type: hybrid
- Description: Qualtrics uses a combination of role-based tiers (Brand Admin, Division Admin, Standard User) and granular per-user permission toggles. Brand Admins can create reusable Permission Sets (templates of toggled permissions) and apply them to users individually or as defaults for a division. Individual permissions can still be overridden per user after a set is applied.
- Custom roles: Yes
- Custom roles plan: Not documented
- Granularity: Per-user toggles covering: survey creation, distribution, response export, library access, contacts management, XM Directory access, reporting, and more. Each toggle is independently enabled or disabled.
How to add users
- Log in as Brand Administrator or Division Administrator.
- Navigate to Account Settings (top-right avatar menu) → Admin.
- Select the 'Users' tab.
- Click 'Add User' (or 'Create User').
- Enter the required fields: username (email address), first name, last name.
- Optionally assign the user to a Division.
- Apply a Permission Set or configure individual permission toggles.
- Click 'Add User' to save; the user receives an email invitation to set their password (if not SSO-provisioned).
Required fields: Username (must be a valid email address), First name, Last name
Watch out for:
- Username must be unique across the Qualtrics platform globally, not just within the brand; if the email is already registered to another Qualtrics account, the add will fail.
- If SSO is enabled, users may be auto-provisioned on first login and manually added users must still match the SSO attribute mapping to authenticate.
- New users inherit the division's default permission set; if no default is configured, they receive minimal permissions and may not be able to create surveys until permissions are explicitly set.
- Adding users does not automatically consume a response quota, but the total number of named users may be subject to contract limits depending on the license type.
| Bulk option | Availability | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| CSV import | Yes | Admin → Users tab → Import Users (CSV upload option); CSV must include username, first name, last name columns. |
| Domain whitelisting | No | Automatic domain-based user add |
| IdP provisioning | Yes | Enterprise (requires SSO/SAML configuration; auto-provisioning via SAML Just-in-Time or SCIM is an Enterprise-tier feature) |
How to remove or deactivate users
- Can delete users: Yes
- Delete/deactivate behavior: Qualtrics supports both deactivation and deletion of users. Deactivating a user prevents login but retains their account, surveys, and data. Deleting a user permanently removes the account. Official documentation notes that deleted users' surveys and data should be transferred or backed up before deletion, as deletion is irreversible.
- Log in as Brand Administrator or Division Administrator.
- Navigate to Account Settings → Admin → Users tab.
- Locate the user via search.
- Click the user's row to open their profile.
- Toggle the account status to 'Inactive' (or use the 'Deactivate' option).
- Save changes; the user can no longer log in but their data is preserved.
| Data impact | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Owned records | Surveys, responses, and projects owned by the user remain in the system after deactivation. Upon deletion, owned content should be transferred to another user beforehand; Qualtrics documentation advises exporting or reassigning data prior to deletion. |
| Shared content | Shared surveys and collaborative projects remain accessible to other collaborators after deactivation or deletion of the original owner, provided ownership or sharing permissions were properly configured. |
| Integrations | API tokens and integration connections tied to the deactivated/deleted user's account will stop functioning; any automated workflows using that user's API key must be updated. |
| License freed | Deactivating a user may free a named-user seat depending on contract terms; deletion removes the seat. Confirmation of seat release should be verified with the Qualtrics account team as it depends on license structure. |
Watch out for:
- Deletion is irreversible; Qualtrics does not provide a restore function for deleted user accounts.
- If a deleted user's surveys are not transferred first, those surveys may become inaccessible or orphaned; Brand Admins can access and reassign surveys before deletion.
- Deactivated users still count against named-user limits in some contract structures; verify with account team.
- SSO-provisioned users who are deprovisioned at the IdP level are not automatically deactivated in Qualtrics unless SCIM or a deprovisioning workflow is configured.
License and seat management
| Seat type | Includes | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Full User (named seat) | Access to survey creation, distribution, reporting, and other features as permitted by the applied permission set. Scope varies by product (CoreXM, EmployeeXM, CustomerXM, etc.). | |
| Response-based entitlement | Qualtrics licenses are primarily interaction/response-based rather than purely seat-based. The number of survey responses collected counts against the purchased response quota. |
- Where to check usage: Account Settings → Admin → License tab (shows response usage, user count, and feature entitlements available to Brand Admins).
- How to identify unused seats: Brand Admins can view the Users list sorted by last login date under Admin → Users tab. Users who have never logged in or have not logged in recently can be identified for deactivation.
- Billing notes: Qualtrics uses interaction/response-based pricing rather than pure per-seat pricing. Named user counts may be capped by contract. Pricing starts at approximately $1,500/year for Customer Experience and $5,000/year for Employee Experience tiers; enterprise deployments use custom pricing. Seat and response limits are defined in the individual contract; overages or additions require contact with the Qualtrics sales/account team.
The cost of manual management
Without automated provisioning, deprovisioning a user at the IdP level (Okta, Entra ID) does not automatically deactivate the Qualtrics account unless SCIM or a dedicated workflow is in place. That gap means a departed employee's credentials can remain valid in Qualtrics indefinitely.
Permission drift is a parallel problem. New users inherit the division's default Permission Set, but if no default is configured, they land with minimal access and require manual follow-up. Bulk CSV import cannot set all permission fields, so any bulk onboarding still requires per-user permission cleanup afterward.
Deactivated users may continue to count against named-user contract limits depending on license structure - a detail that is not clearly surfaced in Qualtrics documentation and requires account team confirmation.
What IT admins are saying
Community evidence is not specific enough to quote or summarize yet for this app.
The decision
Every app in a mature SaaS stack eventually surfaces the same provisioning tradeoffs, and Qualtrics is a clear example of where manual administration becomes a liability at scale. Manual management is workable for small, stable teams where a Brand Admin can directly oversee provisioning and the division structure is simple.
Permission Sets reduce per-user configuration overhead when applied consistently as division defaults.
For organizations with frequent onboarding and offboarding, multiple divisions, or an existing IdP, the manual path introduces meaningful security and compliance risk - specifically the IdP-deprovisioning gap. SCIM provisioning (Enterprise plan, SSO prerequisite) closes that gap and is the recommended path for those environments.
If SCIM is not available due to plan tier, a periodic audit of last-login dates via Admin → Users should be treated as a required operational control, not optional hygiene.
Bottom line
Qualtrics manual user management is functional but carries compounding risk at scale: the IdP-deprovisioning gap, underdocumented permission toggle behavior, and contract-dependent seat counting all require active admin attention.
Every app in your stack that depends on manual offboarding steps creates exposure, and Qualtrics amplifies that exposure through its hybrid permission model and response-based licensing structure. Teams that cannot implement SCIM should establish a documented, recurring audit process as a minimum control.
Automate Qualtrics workflows without one-off scripts
Stitchflow builds and maintains end-to-end IT automation across your SaaS stack, including apps without APIs. Built for exactly how your company works, with human approvals where they matter.
