What is the difference between license users, no product access users and guests?

[Jamie Malangyaon]

I am trying to understand the different types of users. I understand that license users have access to products and are billable but what about this user scenario:

I put user1 in a group with no product access (they are in no other group) so that they do not consume a license. I've added the group to a confluence space where they can only view and edit in that space.

I put user2 in another group with product access as Guest in confluence then added them to the same confleunce space with view and edit permissions.

What would the main difference between user1 and user2 be (other than the fact that for the guest - I have a limit of guests per license user and the guest will only have access to 1 space)? Both would not take up a license, I could set them both up to view/edit a space but would there be any other differences?

[Kristian Klima · Accepted solution]

User - one user = one licensed-paid seat. Can access multiple Confluence spaces to the extent you set up via permissions.

Guest user - Can access exactly ONE space to the extent you set up via permissions.

Non-licensed user - a user with a paid seat in another Atlassian product in your Atlassian org (group of Atlassian products on your Atlassian cloud) but with no access to Confluence. For example, a person may have a paid seat on Jira but no seat on Confluence.

That means that you can have 200 users in your org, 150 have a seat on Jira, 100 have seat on Confluence with 50 people having both seats while 50 only having a Confluence seat. It's mix and match situation and if you spend a bit of planning and evaluating your needs, you can save a pretty buck on licensing. 

[Jamie Malangyaon]

Thank you for this! This is extremely helpful.

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Accepted solution]

Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

If a user has no product access, then they will not be able to use the product.  User1 will not get access to the space despite their group membership, because they can't use Confluence.

User 2 will not behave as a guest, as they have product access.

[Jamie Malangyaon]

Thank you for your response! This is helpful.

[Susan Waldrip]

Hi, I have a follow-up question:

If I have 15 internal (within our site) licensed JSM users and 80 internal customers who only need to view Confluence articles (no edit) via the JSM Knowledge Base (no direct access to Confluence), do I make the internal Customers guests or users? I do not want the internal customers to have a paid license, but Atlassian info references guests as external users.