Summary and recommendation
X Ads 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.
X Ads uses a four-role permission model - Admin, Ad Manager, Analyst, and Creative - applied at the ad account level.
Permissions are predefined per role and cannot be customized or scoped to individual campaigns or ad groups through the UI.
Every app in your stack that touches paid social will require this same account-level access decision, with no middle ground between full campaign control and read-only reporting.
Quick facts
| Admin console path | Ads Manager → (Account name dropdown) → Edit access to account |
| Admin console URL | Official docs |
| SCIM available | No |
| SCIM tier required | N/A |
| SSO prerequisite | No |
User types and roles
| Role | Permissions | Cannot do | Plan required | Seat cost | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Admin | Full account access: create and manage campaigns, manage billing, grant and revoke access to other users, edit account settings. | Cannot act on behalf of the account owner's personal X profile beyond ad account scope. | No per-seat cost; X Ads uses a pay-per-click/impression billing model. | Only existing X (Twitter) account holders can be granted access; the invitee must have an active X account. The account owner retains Admin rights and cannot be removed by other Admins. | |
| Ad Manager | Create, edit, and manage campaigns and creatives; view billing information; cannot manage user access. | Cannot add or remove other users; cannot edit billing payment methods. | No per-seat cost. | Ad Manager users can see billing summaries but cannot change payment details. | |
| Analyst | View-only access to campaign performance data and reporting. | Cannot create, edit, or pause campaigns; cannot view billing; cannot manage users. | No per-seat cost. | Analyst access is read-only; suitable for reporting stakeholders who should not modify campaigns. | |
| Creative | Create and manage Tweets and creatives (media library); cannot launch or manage campaigns directly. | Cannot create or manage campaigns, view billing, or manage user access. | No per-seat cost. | Creative role is scoped to content creation only; the user cannot promote or schedule ads independently. |
Permission model
- Model type: role-based
- Description: X Ads uses four fixed access levels (Admin, Ad Manager, Analyst, Creative). Permissions are predefined per role and cannot be customized. Each role maps to a discrete set of capabilities within the ad account.
- Custom roles: No
- Custom roles plan: Not documented
- Granularity: Role-level only; no per-feature or per-campaign permission toggles available within the UI.
How to add users
- Log in to ads.twitter.com with an Admin account.
- Click the account name dropdown in the top navigation.
- Select 'Edit access to account'.
- Click 'Add access'.
- Enter the X (Twitter) username or email address of the person to invite.
- Select the desired access level (Admin, Ad Manager, Analyst, or Creative).
- Click 'Save changes'. The invited user receives a notification and gains access immediately if they have an active X account.
Required fields: X (Twitter) username or email address associated with an active X account, Access level selection
Watch out for:
- The invitee must already have an active X (Twitter) account; there is no email-only invite flow.
- Only Admins can add or modify user access.
- Access is granted at the ad account level, not at the campaign or ad group level.
- There is no bulk invite or CSV import option in the UI.
| Bulk option | Availability | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| CSV import | No | Not documented |
| Domain whitelisting | No | Automatic domain-based user add |
| IdP provisioning | No | Not documented |
How to remove or deactivate users
- Can delete users: Yes
- Delete/deactivate behavior: Admins can remove a user's access to the ad account entirely via 'Edit access to account'. Removing access revokes the user's ability to view or interact with the account. This is a removal of account-level access, not deletion of the user's X account itself.
- Log in to ads.twitter.com with an Admin account.
- Click the account name dropdown in the top navigation.
- Select 'Edit access to account'.
- Locate the user in the access list.
- Click 'Remove' or change their access level to revoke permissions.
- Confirm the change.
| Data impact | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Owned records | Campaigns, ads, and creatives created by the removed user remain in the account and are unaffected. |
| Shared content | All campaign data, creatives, and reports remain accessible to remaining account users. |
| Integrations | Any API tokens or app-level access granted to the user via the Ads API are separate and must be revoked independently through the developer portal. |
| License freed | No seat-based license to free; X Ads has no per-user billing. |
Watch out for:
- The account owner (the X account that created the ad account) cannot be removed.
- Removing a user does not affect any campaigns they created; those remain active.
- API access credentials are not automatically revoked when UI access is removed.
License and seat management
| Seat type | Includes | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Ad Account Access | Access to one X Ads account at the assigned role level (Admin, Ad Manager, Analyst, or Creative). | No per-seat cost. X Ads charges only for ad spend (CPC/CPM/CPE model). |
- Where to check usage: ads.twitter.com → Account name dropdown → Edit access to account (lists all users and their roles)
- How to identify unused seats: Review the user list under 'Edit access to account'; there is no last-login timestamp displayed in the UI. Unused access must be identified manually by cross-referencing with internal records.
- Billing notes: X Ads has no subscription or per-seat fee. All costs are based on ad spend. Adding or removing users has no direct billing impact.
The cost of manual management
X Ads has no subscription or per-seat fee; all costs are based on ad spend. Adding or removing users carries no direct billing impact.
However, there is no last-login timestamp visible in the UI, so identifying unused access requires manually cross-referencing the user list under 'Edit access to account' against internal records. Each ad account must also be managed separately - there is no centralized multi-account user management view.
What IT admins are saying
Community evidence is not specific enough to quote or summarize yet for this app.
The decision
Choose Admin only for users who need to manage billing or grant access to others. Ad Manager covers most active campaign operators. Analyst is appropriate for reporting stakeholders who must never touch live campaigns.
Creative is narrowly scoped to media and Tweet creation - do not assign it to anyone who needs to launch or schedule promoted content. The account owner cannot be removed by other Admins, which is a hard constraint to account for in ownership transitions.
Bottom line
X Ads manual user management is straightforward for small teams but shows clear limits at scale.
The four fixed roles cover most use cases, but the absence of campaign-level scoping, bulk invite tooling, last-login visibility, and an audit log means that access hygiene depends entirely on manual process discipline.
Every app in your stack that relies on ad account access should have a documented offboarding step, since removing UI access does not automatically revoke any API credentials the user may hold.
Automate X Ads workflows without one-off scripts
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