Full feature catalogue
PanelKind 1.7.2 · 5 November 2026. “Both” means included in Free and Pro, subject to the edition allowances.
| Area | Shipped behaviour | Edition / boundary |
|---|---|---|
| Management workspace | Dedicated full-screen editor, Back to WordPress, Roles & Permissions, Dashboard Widgets, Informational Pages, Admin Styling, Settings & tools | Both; native WordPress remains outside the management screen |
| Views | Reusable workspace definitions with menus, branding, dashboard, guides and section navigation | 1 active custom View on Free; multiple on Pro |
| Role assignment | Assign Views to existing roles; unique priorities resolve users with several roles | Both; Free can reuse its single View for multiple roles |
| User assignment | Override a user's role-based View | Pro for new/changed assignments |
| Native fallback | Full administration remains available | Configuration read-only on Free; protected owners keep native administration |
| Custom roles | Create, rename and link a role to a WordPress/plugin permission base; inspect members and native capabilities | 1 on Free; multiple on Pro; owner-only native changes |
| Role policies | Per-resource Allow, Deny or Inherit; role defaults, site defaults and mandatory restrictions | Both; never grant missing native capabilities |
| User policies | Individual exceptions and access inspection | New/changed exceptions require Pro; inspection included in both |
| Enforcement | Supported native screen guards, mapped capability operations and REST resources | Both; discovered plugin screens may be screen-only coverage |
| Native menu editor | Inline rename, Shown/Hidden, icons, search, expandable submenus, drag order, move buttons, Alt+Up/Down ordering | Both; retains native submenu parents |
| Shortcuts | Custom links and separators | Both; validated destinations and native access checks |
| Section sidebars | Separate sidebars with overview dashboards, introductions, back links and breadcrumbs | Main + 2 direct children on Free; deeper/more sections on Pro |
| Section editor | Add native destinations, pages, links, dividers and child sections; move items and child branches; group Posts & Pages into Content | Both within depth/capacity; nested grouping may require Pro |
| Dashboard choice | Custom client home or native WordPress dashboard | Both |
| Dashboard layout | One/two columns, half/full-width widgets, placement and order; hide selected native widgets | Both; client-home layout is manager-controlled |
| Widget types | Welcome, Information, Quick actions, Recent content, Content overview, Checklist, Help and support | All 7 in both editions |
| Checklists | Persistent per-user or shared completion | Both; preview cannot save completion |
| Widget library | Draft, published and archived entries; reusable across dashboards and sections | 3 entries Free; 200 technical maximum Pro |
| Information pages | Private admin guides, title, sidebar label/icon, visual rich text, code editing, media picker, top-level/Help/section placement | 1 entry Free; 200 technical maximum Pro |
| Audiences | All signed-in users, selected roles, owners; per-item placements | Both; individual-user targets require Pro |
| Admin themes | Classic, Ocean, Forest, Lagoon, Violet, Rose, Crimson, Ember, Honey, Sand, Olive, Graphite; previews and Undo | All 12 in both |
| Manual colours | 13 editable tokens for workspace, text, borders, sidebar and toolbar | All in both; hex colours |
| Branding | Workspace name, logo/media URL, logo width and sidebar placement | Both |
| Surfaces | Card/button/menu corners; card/sidebar shadow presets | New custom values require Pro |
| Layout and cleanup | Density, sidebar width, icons, welcome panel, Help, Screen Options and toolbar items | Both |
| Styling scope | Assigned View users or main WordPress admin, including owner screens | Both; global selection requires settings permission and theme settings |
| White labelling | Custom footer text and hide Powered by PanelKind credit | Pro; does not add login-page branding or rename the plugin everywhere |
| Draft workflow | Shared draft, save/discard, explicit publication review and optional note | Both; native role and license changes are immediate |
| Concurrency | Draft tokens, active-revision checks and database option write lock | Both; rejects stale writes instead of silently overwriting |
| Preview | Actual WordPress admin as a selected role/user; draft or published snapshot; optional View override | Both; agency-owner-only and browse-only |
| History | Published revisions, restore to draft and configuration activity history | Both; bounded retention and current entitlement checks |
| Recovery | Protected owners, one-hour safe mode, stale-lock recovery and server-level recovery flag | Both |
| Delegation | Separate capabilities for Views, access, content, settings, publication and export | Both; entitlement limits still apply |
| Templates | Save, edit and apply reusable View templates | Pro; not a remote template service |
| Same-site backup | Signed configuration export and validated restore preview | Both; site-bound, not a full WordPress backup |
| Portable transfer | Export/import configuration between sites, with personal identifiers removed | Pro; role definitions and media files are not transported |
| License management | Tier, active plan, site allowance, activation usage, expiry, activate/change/account/sync actions | Both can inspect relevant status; activation management owner-only |
| Paid updates | Freemius update channel while update-entitled | Pro; Free manual ZIP updates in this build |
| Data lifecycle | Configuration retained on deactivation; optional cleanup on uninstall | Both; users/site content retained |
Public frontend content is outside the workspace system. PanelKind is an admin plugin, not a public client portal, membership system, full-site backup tool or universal third-party security layer. The limitations guide explains those boundaries.