What only the owner can do
The short list of powers that stop at one person, why admins see a note instead of a broken button, and what to do when the owner is away.
Every workspace has exactly one owner: the person who created it. The owner is an admin too, with one extra layer on top. That layer is deliberately small, and it is only two things: money, and who else gets to govern.
Knowing this list saves the usual half hour of an admin clicking around wondering why a button is not there.
Owner only
Money.
- Start a plan or go through checkout.
- Change plan, upgrade, downgrade, cancel.
- Update the card, through the secure billing portal.
Admin appointment.
- Promote a member to admin, or change an admin back to a member.
- Invite an admin.
- Revoke or resend an admin invitation.
- Remove an admin.
- Change an admin's department.
Workspace identity. Renaming the workspace and finishing the company setup.
What any admin can do
The split is narrower than people expect, so be precise about it.
- Buy credit top ups. Any admin can top the workspace up when it runs low. That is not gated to the owner, so nobody has to wait for one person to unblock the team mid week.
- View billing. Any admin sees the plan, the status, the renewal, and the credit pool.
- Run the workspace. Invite and remove members, departments, manager seats, workspace settings, and workspace spend.
Members see billing too, read only. Owner managed billing is simply the normal state for a member, so they get the plan and the balance and no controls.
A non-owner admin does not get a billing button that fails. They get a note saying billing is owner managed, in place of the controls. A rendered control you cannot use is worse than no control.
The owner seat is protected
The owner cannot be removed. Any attempt returns "The workspace owner can't be removed." The owner also cannot be demoted, including by themselves, so nobody can accidentally leave a workspace with no owner.
If the owner is leaving the company, contact support before their last day, not after their account is gone.
When the owner is not around
- Out of credit mid sprint. Any admin buys a top up. No owner needed.
- Card expiring. Only the owner can update it. Give them notice, because a lapsed payment puts the workspace into read only, and read only blocks invitations, removals, role changes, and other writes for everyone.
- You need another admin urgently. Only the owner can appoint one. An admin can invite the person as a member now, and the owner promotes them later.
A worked example
A 25 person agency runs low on credits while its founder is travelling. The operations admin buys a top-up immediately, because any admin can do that. A week later the card needs updating, so the founder opens the secure billing portal as the workspace owner. The admin can see the billing state throughout, but only the owner can change the card.
What to check
"Only the workspace owner can appoint or remove admins." You are an admin, not the owner. Ask them.
"Only the workspace owner can invite an admin." Same cause. Invite the person as a member, then have the owner promote.
"Promote another admin before demoting the only workspace admin." A workspace always keeps at least one admin. Promote someone first.
You think you are the owner but the controls are missing. There is one owner per workspace, and it is the person who created it. Check whether you are in the workspace you think you are in, using the workspace switcher.