Appropriate access levels — quick notes
Access levels — quick notes
| Level | Gets | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Stakeholder | Work items, backlogs, dashboards, Azure Pipelines feature access, and release viewing/approval; no Repos in private projects | Unlimited free access |
| Basic | Repos, Pipelines, Boards, and Artifacts, subject to permissions | First five users free; paid from the sixth unless another qualifying entitlement applies |
| Basic + Test Plans | Basic plus test management | Paid or covered by a qualifying entitlement |
- Access level = available web-portal features. Permissions = allowed actions and objects.
- Product owner or approver who does not need private-project Repos access → Stakeholder.
- Existing public projects temporarily give Stakeholders full Repos access; conversion to private projects is scheduled for 2027.
- GitHub contractor needing selected repositories without organization membership → outside collaborator; with Enterprise Managed Users, repository collaborator.
- Prefer Microsoft Entra group rules where practical, and review the Group rules tab regularly.
Primary sources: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/certifications/resources/study-guides/az-400 · https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/organizations/security/stakeholder-access?view=azure-devops · https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/organizations/security/access-levels?view=azure-devops · https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/organizations/billing/buy-basic-access-add-users?view=azure-devops · https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/organizations/security/about-permissions?view=azure-devops · https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/organizations/accounts/assign-access-levels-by-group-membership?view=azure-devops · https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/organizations/projects/public-projects-retirement?view=azure-devops · https://docs.github.com/en/organizations/managing-user-access-to-your-organizations-repositories/managing-outside-collaborators/adding-outside-collaborators-to-repositories-in-your-organization · https://docs.github.com/en/enterprise-cloud@latest/organizations/managing-peoples-access-to-your-organization-with-roles/roles-in-an-organization