Webflow User Accounts overview

Personalize and monetize your content with free, paid, or tiered memberships.

We’re transitioning to a new UI, and are in the process of updating our Webflow University content.

With Webflow User Accounts, you can add users, login functionality, and control access to pages with access groups to build gated-content experiences for your audience. You can also create memberships with subscription fees to scale your site or business with recurring revenue, or even sync to a mailing list or client relationship management tool with the Users API. Whether it’s an invite-only membership site, or an online business with subscriptions to premium content, User Accounts can help you create, manage, and grow your site.

Important: Once you’ve enabled User Accounts, you cannot deactivate or remove it. You can’t delete User pages or Collections after activating User Accounts. Additionally, you can’t reuse the reserved URL slugs (e.g., /log-in, /sign-up, etc.) used for User pages. However, you can disable User systems and publishing of User Accounts pages so they no longer appear on your published site. You should only enable User Accounts if you’re sure you want to add user support to your site. If you’re only looking to test out the feature, we recommend creating a test site to do so.

In this lesson, you’ll learn:

  1. How to access User Accounts
  2. How to manage access groups
  3. How to manage page restrictions
  4. How to manage user accounts
  5. How to set element visibility based on site visitors’ logged-in status
  6. How to manage subscriptions
  7. How to disable User systems

How to access User Accounts

You can get started with Webflow User Accounts by choosing a User Accounts template or cloneable site, or by starting your site from scratch. 

If you choose a User Accounts template, User Accounts will be enabled for you by default. If you choose a different template, start your site from scratch, or want to add User Accounts to an existing site, you can enable User Accounts by clicking the Users icon in the left toolbar.

Important: Once you’ve enabled User Accounts, you cannot deactivate or remove it. You can’t delete User pages or Collections after activating User Accounts. Additionally, you can’t reuse the reserved URL slugs (e.g., /log-in, /sign-up, etc.) used for User pages. However, you can disable User systems and publishing of User Accounts pages so they no longer appear on your published site. You should only enable User Accounts if you’re sure you want to add user support to your site. If you’re only looking to test out the feature, we recommend creating a test site to do so.

Once you enable User Accounts, user-related Collections, pages, and settings will be added to your site, and User Accounts elements will be available in the Add panel under Users

Note: For security, you cannot disable SSL on sites with User Accounts enabled.

User Accounts Collections

2 User Accounts Collections are automatically created to help you get started with your User Accounts site: User accounts and Access groups. You can view each of these Collections by clicking the Users icon in the left toolbar of the Webflow Designer.

User accounts is where you can find and manage all users who have accounts on your site. Learn more about managing user accounts

Access groups allow you to control which users have access to your site’s content. Learn more about managing access groups. Learn more about managing access groups.

User Accounts User pages

Several User pages (e.g., Log in, Sign up, User account, etc.) are automatically created on a User Accounts site to support basic user functionality. These pages appear under the User pages section of the Pages panel.

Some basic styling is applied to elements on these pages by default, but they can be customized to provide a unique experience to your users. Learn more about User pages.

Important: User pages have reserved URL slugs (e.g., /log-in, /sign-up, etc.) that cannot be edited. Additionally, if you decide to stop using User Accounts on your site in the future, you will not be able to create new pages using these reserved slugs. 

User Accounts elements

Log in/log out button

In addition to prebuilt forms on User pages, User Accounts provides a prebuilt log in/log out button element for your site users’ convenience. 

To use the prebuilt log in/log out button element, open Add panel > Elements > Users and drag the Log in/log out button to the Webflow canvas. You can drop this element in your navbar or wherever you’d like. 

The Log in/log out button has 2 states: Logged in and Logged out. By default, the button text for the Logged in state is “Log out,” and the button text for the Logged out state is “Log in.” You can customize the text to your liking and toggle between states in Element settings > User log in/log out settings.

Subscriptions element

User Accounts also provides a prebuilt Subscriptions element so that your site users can manage their subscriptions from their User account page.

To use the Subscription element, open the User account page, then open Add panel > Elements > Ecommerce and drag the Subscriptions element to the Webflow canvas. 

Note: The Subscriptions element is only available for sites with both User Accounts and Ecommerce enabled and can only be added to the User account page. Learn more about the User account page.

When the Subscriptions element has been added to the User account page, your users will be able to view the details of their subscriptions, including the purchase date and the next billing date or the cancellation date. Additionally, they’ll be able to cancel their subscriptions from this page.

How to manage access groups

Access groups allow you to control which users have access to various types of content on your site. You can create both Free and Paid access groups.

How to create free access groups

You can create a free access group by clicking the Users icon and choosing Access groups in the Users panel. Then, click New access group, and give your access group a name. 

Choose Free access as your Group type under Access settings. If you don’t have Ecommerce enabled on your site, you’ll only see the option for Free access

Then, choose a Grant access option to determine when your users will be given access to your content. There are 2 options here: 

  • After manually adding users to this group with this option, users will not be automatically added to your access group after signing up on your site. Instead, you’ll have to manually add them to the appropriate access group once they’ve signed up and verified their account. You may prefer to use this option if you have additional steps outside of Webflow a user must complete before they’re given access.
  • After a user signs up and verifies their account — with this option, users will be automatically added to your access group after signing up on your site. You may prefer to use this option if you’d like anyone to access your content after signing up for an account on your site.
Note: When you manually add users to an access group, if the user has already logged in (i.e., started a session), they’ll need to either log out and back in or wait for the session to refresh before they’ll have access to the pages restricted to their new access group. Sessions automatically refresh after 4 hours.

Finally, add the pages and/or folders you’d like to make available to users of this free access group in the Restricted content section and click Create.

In order for someone to access any pages and/or folders added to the Restricted content section, they’ll need to be logged into an account that belongs to an access group with access to this restricted content. Learn more about page restrictions.

How to create paid access groups

To create paid access groups, you’ll need to enable Ecommerce on your site. Learn more about enabling Ecommerce

Once Ecommerce is enabled, you’ll need to set up an Ecommerce membership product that your users can purchase via a checkout process/flow. 

Important: Users will need to create and verify their accounts before they’re able to purchase a membership product. 

To create a membership product: 

  1. Open Ecommerce > Products and click New product 
  2. Choose Membership from the Product type dropdown 
  3. Give your membership product a name and fill in the description and image fields however you’d like
  4. Choose a Billing method (e.g., One-time payment or Subscription)
  5. Give your membership product a price
  6. If you’ve selected Subscription for your Billing method, choose a billing frequency from the Billing period dropdown (e.g., Day, Week, Month, or Year
  7. Configure other product settings (e.g., Inventory, Shipping, Downloads, Options, etc.) as desired
  8. Click Create

Now that you’ve created a membership product, you can create a paid access group by opening the Users icon and choosing Access groups in the next tab that appears. Then, click New access group, and give your access group a name. 

Choose Paid access as your Group type under Access settings. If you don’t have Ecommerce enabled on your site, you’ll only see the option for Free access, so make sure you’ve activated Ecommerce

Note: If you decide to change a paid access group to free in the future, this action will unlink its related membership products, and new users will be able to join without purchasing a product. These changes will apply the next time customers log in. Any recurring charges to existing customers will continue until you cancel their subscription. Users can also cancel their own subscription if you’ve added the Subscriptions element to the User account page. Learn more about User account pages and the Subscriptions element.

Then, you can set the Associated membership products for your access group. Click into the Associated membership products input field and choose the product(s) you want linked to this paid access group. 

Finally, add the pages and/or folders you’d like to make available to users of this paid access group in the Restricted content section and click Create.

In order for someone to access any pages and/or folders added to the Restricted content section, they’ll need to be logged into an account that belongs to an access group with access to this restricted content. Learn more about page restrictions.

How to delete access groups

As your site or business continues to scale and grow, you may decide you no longer need an access group on your site. 

Important: There’s no way to restore a deleted access group. Any content restricted to this access group will become accessible to the public. Additionally, any customers who have purchased membership products connected to this access group will continue to be charged until their subscription is canceled. Learn more about subscriptions.

To delete an access group: 

  1. Click the Users icon and choose Access groups in the Users panel
  2. Click the access group you’d like to delete
  3. Click Delete – this will lead you to a confirmation modal window
  4. Click Delete this group to confirm deletion and permanently delete your access group

How to manage page restrictions

Page restrictions can be set in Access group settings or in Page settings for any pages you’d like to restrict, with the exception of User pages and utility pages.

Access control settings

You can choose from 3 access control settings for page restrictions: Public, Anyone with the password, or Specific users only.

Public 

Pages with Restrict Access set to Public will be available to anyone on the internet. This is the default access control setting for any new pages.

To make an existing page public: 

  1. Open the Pages panel 
  2. Hover over the page you want to make public and click the settings “cog” icon
  3. Click Public in Access Control
  4. Save your changes 
Important: You’ll need to publish (or republish) your site for changes to your access settings to take effect.

Anyone with the password

Pages with Restrict Access set to Anyone with the password will be available to anyone who has the password for those pages. 

Important: Make sure you’ve set a page-level password before using this access control setting. You’ll need an active site plan in order to unlock password protection on pages and folders. Learn more about password protection

To restrict pages to anyone with the password: 

  1. Open the Pages panel
  2. Hover over an existing page (or create a new page) that you want to restrict access to and click the settings “cog” icon
  3. Click Anyone with the password
  4. Save your changes 
Important: You’ll need to publish (or republish) your site for changes to your access settings to take effect.

Specific users only

Pages with Restrict Access set to Specific users only will be available to users in the access group that you choose. 

To restrict pages to an existing access group: 

  1. Open the Pages panel
  2. Hover over an existing page (or create a new page) that you want to restrict access to and click the settings “cog” icon
  3. Click Specific users only in Access control and choose the access group you’d like to have access to this page from the dropdown
  4. Save your changes 
Important: You’ll need to publish (or republish) your site for changes to your access settings to take effect.
Good to know: Pages with User Accounts access control restrictions will be marked with a blue user icon in the Pages panel. 
The Pages panel shows a page marked with a blue user icon to indicate that it has access control restrictions.

How to manage user accounts

Any users who sign up for a membership on your site will appear in Users > User accounts. There, you can manage existing users, add new users, and see user info.

Users can manage their account settings (e.g., email address, password, etc.) from their User account page. Learn more about the User account page

User accounts list

In Users > User accounts, you’ll find an overview of each user who has signed up for a membership on your site, including their verification status (e.g., Verified or Unverified), the date their account was created, and the date of their last login. 

Additionally, when you click an individual user to expand their information, you’ll find user settings and details like: 

  • The user’s name and email address
  • Whether the user agreed to your site’s privacy policy and/or terms and conditions (if you’ve included these on your site’s sign up form)
  • Whether the user agreed to receive marketing or other communications
  • The user’s access settings (i.e., what access groups the user is part of) 
  • The user’s Ecommerce orders
  • The user’s Ecommerce subscriptions
  • Any information you’ve collected from custom fields

Site owners can edit a user’s access groups as well as the user-inputted information in custom fields in the user’s overview. Users can edit their user account preferences (i.e., acceptance for marketing/other communications) and all user-inputted information (i.e., name, email, and/or information in custom fields) from their User account page.

How to add a user account

A user account will be created automatically for new users who sign up for an account on your site, but you can also add user accounts manually. 

To add a new user account: 

  1. Click the Users icon and choose User accounts in the Users panel
  2. Click Invite new user
  3. Enter the email address for the user you’d like to invite 
  4. Select the access group(s) in the Access groups dropdown the user should be added to when they complete signup 
  5. Click Invite

This user will receive an email inviting them to sign up for an account on your site. They’ll also appear in the User accounts tab with an Invited status. 

Important: When you invite a user, they’ll need to sign up for an account on your site using the same email address where the invitation was sent.

If you need to resend an invitation to a user, you can do so by clicking the user in the User accounts tab and clicking Resend invite. This will open a confirmation modal window where you’ll need to click Resend to confirm that you’d like to resend the email invitation.

Invite users with Logic

You can also invite users programmatically using Logic. Logic’s Invite user block allows you to automate the process of inviting users to your User accounts site and assigning them to access groups. This can be useful for migrating new users to your User accounts site from an existing external database.

Learn more about Logic.

How to reset a user’s password

At some point, a user on your site may need assistance resetting their password. You can send a password reset email to initiate the password reset process by clicking the user in the User accounts tab and clicking Send reset email. This will open a confirmation modal window where you’ll need to click Send to confirm that you’d like to send a password reset email to this user.

Your users can also reset their passwords from the User account page

How to update user account preferences

Site owners can edit a user’s access groups as well as the user-inputted information in custom fields in the user’s overview. Users can edit their user account preferences (i.e., acceptance for marketing/other communications) and all user-inputted information (i.e., name, email, and/or information in custom fields) from their User account page.

Update user accounts with Logic

You can also update user account preferences programmatically using Logic. Logic’s Update user account block allows you to automate the process of updating a user’s preferences (e.g., for marketing communications) and access groups by user ID or user email. You can also select an existing user on your site to update their preferences.

Learn more about Logic.

How to delete a user account

Important: Deleted users can’t be restored and won’t have access to free or paid gated content. Active subscriptions or memberships will also be canceled. 

To delete a user account:

  1. Click the Users icon and choose User accounts in the Users panel
  2. Click the user you’d like to delete
  3. Click Delete – this will open a deletion confirmation modal window
  4. Click Delete this user to confirm deletion

Delete user accounts with Logic

You can also delete user accounts programmatically using Logic. Logic’s Delete user account block allows you to automate the process of deleting users from your User Accounts site by user ID or user email. You can also select an existing user on your site.

Learn more about Logic.

How to set element visibility based on site visitors' logged-in status

Any element (e.g., a button, section, etc.) on a User Account-enabled site can have visibility settings tied to any visitor's logged-in status by using element-level gating. 

This means you can customize experiences within the same page for users based on whether they are logged in or not. For example, you can create a homepage experience for logged out users that is solely focused on conversion, while logged in users are taken directly to your premium content experience. Or you can have a universal navbar throughout your site that exposes a different level of detail based on a visitor's access permissions. 

To gate an element and set its visibility based on a visitor’s logged-in status: 

  1. Select the element you want to affect (e.g., a button, section, etc.) 
  2. Open Element settings > Visibility & user access
  3. Click the “plus” icon to add a user access condition
  4. Open the “Select field” dropdown menu and choose “User state” 
  5. Choose “is Logged in” or “is Logged out” from the second dropdown menu
  6. Save your settings
  7. Publish your site to push the changes live

For example, if you set a button element to be visible when the user state is set to “is logged in,” only logged in users will see that button. Logged out users will not be able to view or interact with the button because it will be hidden from them, based on the element-level gating you’ve set for that particular button element. 

Note: When using element-level gating and user access conditions, there is no need to also toggle elements to “visible” or “hidden” using the visibility buttons in Element settings > Visibility & user access. Your element visibility is instead managed by setting user access conditions as described in the steps above. 

To remove a user access condition: 

  1. Select the element that has the condition applied to it
  2. Open Element settings > Visibility & user access
  3. Hover over the condition that’s been set and click the “trash” icon
  4. Publish your site to push the changes live
Good to know: If an ordered list’s item is hidden from a site visitor, any following list numbers will adjust to the new count and item order. If a required form input field is hidden from a site visitor, it will not be required to submit the form. Custom code will not run on a page if it is part of an embed element that’s hidden from a site visitor.

How to manage subscriptions

When you create a subscription-based membership product, any users who purchase a subscription will appear in Ecommerce > Subscriptions. There, you can track and manage your users’ subscriptions.

Important: Subscriptions require Stripe. You will need to activate and connect a Stripe account before you can use subscriptions and publish your site. Learn how to connect a Stripe account.
Note: Subscriptions cannot be viewed or managed from the Editor. However, they can be viewed in edit mode.

Subscriptions list

The subscriptions list gives you an overview of each subscription order, with the most important information such as the date, the total, and the status of the subscription. Here, you can: 

  • Search subscriptions by order number or customer
  • Filter the subscription list by status (e.g., Active, Pastdue, Unpaid, or Canceled)
  • Select multiple subscriptions and cancel them in bulk 
The Subscriptions list shows 3 active subscriptions, the customers the subscriptions belong to, the purchase date, billing date, next billing date, and the total price of each subscription.

How to cancel a subscription

You may need to cancel subscriptions at a user’s request, after deleting an access group, or after changing an access group from paid to free. 

To cancel a subscription: 

  1. Open Ecommerce > Subscriptions 
  2. Click the subscription you’d like to delete
  3. Click Cancel subscription – this will open a cancellation confirmation modal window
  4. Click Yes, cancel subscription to confirm cancellation

You can also cancel subscriptions in bulk: 

  1. Open Ecommerce > Subscriptions
  2. Click Select and check the checkbox next to each subscription you’d like to cancel, or check the checkbox next to Order Number to select all subscriptions
  3. Click Cancel subscriptions – this will open a cancellation confirmation modal window
  4. Click Yes, cancel subscriptions to confirm cancellation

Your users can also cancel their memberships if you’ve added a Subscriptions element to the User account page

How to disable User systems

Once you’ve enabled User Accounts, you cannot fully deactivate or remove it from your site. However, you can disable User systems and publishing of User pages on your site. 

Note that disabling User systems will deactivate any pending invites or imports of new users to your site and unpublish existing User pages (e.g., Log in, Sign up, Reset password). Existing user details and access groups will be retained if you reenable User systems in the future. 

To disable User systems: 

  1. Open the Users panel
  2. Hover over User accounts and click the settings “cog” icon
  3. Toggle Enable publishing of user systems & pages on your site to OFF
  4. Click Disable User systems
  5. Publish your site

Learn more

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