An access group (previously called a member tier) is a named set of members, such as "Pro", that unlocks gated content: private spaces and courses. Access groups are how a paid community or a members-only area decides who gets in.
Who can do this: Community owners and admins, and custom roles with the Manage access groups permission. Moderators can't manage access groups. · Where: Web (admin console, Admin → Members → Access Groups). Members see their groups on the web and in the iOS and Android apps. · Plan: Access groups, and how many you can create, depend on your platform plan.
What an access group is
An access group does two things:
- It unlocks content. Members who hold the group get into the spaces and courses linked to it.
- It gives members a badge. Each group has a name, an icon, and a color.
An access group has no price. Money is handled by Subscription Plans (what members pay for, not your own Mateflow platform plan). A plan grants an access group, and the access group decides what the member can open. The Access Groups page sums it up: "Plans charge money. Access groups decide which spaces a member can enter and what their badge says."
How members get an access group
A member can join an access group in four ways:
- By subscribing to a plan. Every Member upgrade subscription plan grants exactly one access group, chosen on the plan's Access & Benefits tab. The member gets the group when the subscription starts and loses it when the subscription ends. A complimentary subscription you grant from Admin → Monetization → Subscribers counts too. Community access (paid signup) plans don't grant an access group.
- From an admin. Owners and admins can add or remove a group on a member's page. See Add or remove a member's access group.
- As the default group. When an access group is set as the Default Access Group, new members are added to it when they sign up. Existing members who don't hold any group are added too.
- Through the Open API. Invitations created with the API can include access groups, which the person gets when they accept. See Integrations overview: API, webhooks, and Zapier.
These ways of getting in don't add an access group:
- Buying a single space with a one-time purchase unlocks only that space. Members find it under Lifetime Access in the Member Center.
- A space invite code unlocks only that space.
- Invitations sent from Admin → Members → Invitations don't add a group: the invite dialog has no access-group option.
- CSV imports don't add a group, and imported members don't get the Default Access Group either. Add their groups afterward.
- Automation rules can't add or remove access groups.
What an access group unlocks
An access group unlocks the spaces and courses linked to it. You can link a space from either side:
- From the access group: edit the group in Admin → Members → Access Groups and add spaces on its Space Access tab.
- From the space: in the space's Access Policy, set Payment mode to Access Group and pick the Access groups that unlock this space.
- For a course: turn on Included in access groups in the course's Access & pricing settings.
Both kinds of link count. The group's Space Access tab lists only spaces added there, so it isn't a full list of what the group unlocks. A space's Access Policy also tells you how many other groups unlock it from the group side.
Members who hold a linked access group get into the space or course automatically. Gating by access group matters for Private and Secret spaces; anyone can already join a Public space.
Members can hold several access groups
A member can hold more than one access group at a time, for example the group from their subscription plus one an admin added. They can open everything that any of their groups unlocks.
- A member has only one subscription at a time, so at most one of their groups comes from a subscription.
- When a member holds several groups, the badge next to their name is the group nearest the top of the Access Groups list. Drag groups to change the order. The order doesn't give one group more access than another.
What members see of their access groups
Members mostly see a group by its name, not by the term "access group". A member's groups appear:
- as a badge next to their name on posts, comments, and messages;
- at the top of their Member Center on the web, and under My access groups in the app's Member Center;
- in the community's member directory, which anyone can filter by Access group.
When a space needs a group the member doesn't hold, the join dialog offers the linked plan under Subscribe to Join, or Upgrade Membership if they already subscribe to another plan.
You can also send broadcasts to members of selected access groups. See Send a broadcast by email and in-app.
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