IAM Policy Attachment Limit Checker

AWS caps how many managed policies can be attached directly to a single IAM role or user — by default, 10. Once that count is reached, the next AttachRolePolicy or AttachUserPolicy call fails until something is detached or the quota is raised, which is a frustrating way to discover the limit mid-deployment. IAM Policy Attachment Limit Checker lets you enter (or paste and auto-count) how many managed policies are currently attached and immediately see how much headroom remains before that quota is hit.

The default managed-policy attachment quota (10 per role or user) is explicitly a default, adjustable quota — AWS allows requesting an increase for it through the Service Quotas console in many cases, so this tool never presents 10 as an immovable ceiling. As a secondary, optional check in the same view, you can also enter how many groups a user belongs to and compare that against its own default quota (10 groups per user) — but that particular quota is called out as not adjustable, a genuinely different case from the managed-policy count, and the tool is explicit about which is which rather than treating every number the same way.

Inline policy character-size limits (2,048 characters for a user, 5,120 for a group, 10,240 for a role) are a fundamentally different kind of quota — a character count within one document, not a count of how many things are attached — and are mentioned here only as a pointer to the dedicated IAM Policy Size Checker tool rather than being re-implemented in this tool's primary flow.

Every quota figure shown is clearly labeled as either adjustable via Service Quotas or a hard limit, and the UI carries a standing reminder to verify current values in the AWS Service Quotas console before relying on any number shown here — AWS default quotas do change over time, and an account's own quota may already have been raised above the published default.

• Primary check: managed policies attached vs. the default quota of 10 per role/user.
• Type a count directly, or paste a policy name/ARN list to auto-count.
• Remaining headroom and a near-limit warning as you approach 10.
• Secondary, optional check: groups per user (default 10, explicitly marked as NOT adjustable, unlike the managed-policy quota).
• Adjustable-vs-hard-limit labeling for every figure shown.
• Pointer to the dedicated size-checker tool for inline/managed policy character limits, rather than duplicating that check here.
• Standing reminder to verify current values in the AWS Service Quotas console.
• 100% client-side.

1. Enter the number of managed policies currently attached to the role/user, or paste the list of policy names/ARNs to auto-count.
2. Read the headroom/status against the default 10-policy quota.
3. (Optional) enter the number of groups the user belongs to for the secondary check against the 10-groups-per-user quota.
4. Verify current values in the AWS Service Quotas console before relying on any number for a production decision.

Example 1 — plenty of headroom. 3 managed policies attached → 7 remaining, status OK.

Example 2 — near the limit. 9 of 10 attached → 1 remaining, flagged as near the limit.

Example 3 — at the limit. Exactly 10 attached → at the default limit; the next attach call will fail unless the quota has been raised.

Example 4 — pasted list. Paste 12 policy ARNs, one per line → auto-counted as 12, flagged as 2 over the default 10-policy quota.

Example 5 — secondary group check. A user belongs to 9 groups → 1 remaining against the 10-groups-per-user quota, which (unlike the managed-policy count) cannot be raised.

• Catches attachment-limit problems before AWS rejects the API call.
• Auto-counts pasted policy lists instead of manual tallying.
• Distinguishes adjustable vs. hard limits honestly, quota by quota.
• Optional secondary group-membership check in the same view.
• Points to the right tool for size-based limits instead of duplicating them.
• Private — runs entirely in your browser.