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  1. Home
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  3. AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM)
Logo of AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM)

AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM)

byAmazon Web Services (AWS)
in Access Management
4.5

Overview

Product Information on AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM)

Updated 13th October 2025

What is AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM)?

AWS Identity and Access Management IAM is a software that enables administrators to control user access to resources within Amazon Web Services environments. The software provides capabilities for creating and managing AWS users and groups and defining permissions to allow or deny access to specific AWS resources. It supports policies for fine-grained authorization, multi-factor authentication, and federated access, helping organizations maintain security and compliance by ensuring that only authenticated and authorized users can perform actions on AWS services. IAM addresses the business need for secure, manageable, and scalable user access control in cloud-based infrastructures.

AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) Pricing

AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) is software that provides pricing based on usage as part of Amazon Web Services offerings There are no additional charges for using IAM and users pay only for the AWS resources accessed through IAM policies The cost is determined by standard usage charges of the underlying AWS resources and services with no separate subscription or tiered pricing for IAM

Overall experience with AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM)

It Security & Risk Management Associate
<50M USD, IT Services
FAVORABLE

“Granular Permissions Enhance Security in AWS IAM Amid Policy Structure Challenges”

5.0
Mar 7, 2026
As an administrator, my overall experience with AWS IAM has been very positive. This service provides a full framework for controlling access to resources across the AWS ecosystem. It allows me to define granular permission, manage identities, and enfore the least-priviledge access to the users, roles, and services. From an operational standpoint, IAM is to secure cloud workloads and ensuring that access to critical resources is always tight.
Engineer
1B - 3B USD, Banking
CRITICAL

“Complex Policy Granularity Presents Challenges Despite Powerful Fine-Tuning Capabilities”

2.0
Jul 16, 2025
there's too much complexity and granularity to drafting policies. The default managed policies are too open and makes security as a default difficult to achieve. There should be a resource policy simulator in addition to the existing policy simulator.

About Company

Company Description

Updated 6th March 2025

Amazon Web Services (AWS), established in 2006, is focused on providing essential infrastructure services to businesses globally in the form of cloud computing. The key advantage offered through cloud computing, particularly via AWS, is its capacity to shift fixed infrastructure expenses into flexible costs. Businesses have been able to forgo extensive planning and procurement of servers and other Information Technology (IT) resources, owing to AWS. AWS seeks to provide businesses with prompt and cost-effective access to resources using Amazon's expertise and economies of scale, as and when their business requires. Currently, AWS offers a robust, scalable, economic infrastructure platform on the cloud powering an extensive array of businesses worldwide. It operates across numerous industries with data center locations in various parts of the globe including U.S., Europe, Singapore, and Japan.

Company Details

Updated 23rd December 2024
Company type
Public
Year Founded
2006
Head office location
Seattle, United States
Number of employees
10001+
Website
http://aws.amazon.com

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Key Insights

A Snapshot of What Matters - Based on Validated User Reviews

User Sentiment About AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM)
Reviewer Insights for: AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM)
Deciding Factors: AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) Vs. Market Average
Performance of AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) Across Market Features

AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) Likes & Dislikes

Like

I like the most is the flexibility of policy-based access control. IAM policies allow administrator to define precise permissions for users, roles and services, enabling strong security governance. The intergration with services such as AWS organization and AWS security token service makes it easier to manage access across multiple accounts and cloud environments.

Like

Tools like policy simulator are great. The level of granularity is great for fine tuning and for power users who can plumb the depths of documentation to understand the nuance of how conditional expressions are logically evaluated.

Like

What I value most is the granular level of control and the integration with the entire AWS ecosystem. Granularity: We can define permissions down to a specific resource level. Temporary credentials: The ability to use IAM roles and temporary security credentials is a game-changer.

Dislike

The main challenge for me with IAM is the complexity of policy management. As environments grow with multiple AWS account, the policies can be more detailed, troubleshooting permission issue can become time-consuming. The JSON-based policy structure require careful attention, small configuration mistake like using wildcard in resources can lead to overly permissive.

Dislike

cumbersome and too much complexity

Dislike

The main downside is the complexity of policy management and debugging. When a legitimate user gets an Access Denied error, tracing exactly which policy is blocking them can sometimes be time-consuming, even with the Policy Simulator tool. It requires a high level of expertise to manage efficiently without slowing down development cycles.

Top AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) Alternatives

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2. Microsoft Entra ID
4.5
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Peer Discussions

AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) Reviews and Ratings

4.5

(246 Ratings)

Rating Distribution

5 Star
59%
4 Star
37%
3 Star
4%
2 Star
0%
1 Star
0%
Why ratings and reviews count differ?

Customer Experience

Evaluation & Contracting

4.4

Integration & Deployment

4.6

Service & Support

4.5

Product Capabilities

4.7

Filter Reviews
Sort By:
Most helpful
Last 12 Months
Star Rating
Reviewer Type
Reviewer's Company Size
Reviewer's Industry
Reviewer's Region
Reviewer's Job Function
  • It Security & Risk Management Associate
    <50M USD
    IT Services
    Review Source

    Granular Permissions Enhance Security in AWS IAM Amid Policy Structure Challenges

    5.0
    Mar 7, 2026
    As an administrator, my overall experience with AWS IAM has been very positive. This service provides a full framework for controlling access to resources across the AWS ecosystem. It allows me to define granular permission, manage identities, and enfore the least-priviledge access to the users, roles, and services. From an operational standpoint, IAM is to secure cloud workloads and ensuring that access to critical resources is always tight.
  • MANAGER
    50M-1B USD
    Services (non-Government)
    Review Source

    AWS IAM Enables Precision Access Yet Requires Advanced Skills for Administration

    5.0
    Dec 18, 2025
    My experience with AWS AIM has been fundamental to our operations. As we manage a consumer credit platform, security and compliance are our top priorities. IAM acts as the backbone of our security posture, allowing us to enforce strict governance over who can access our private algorithms and sensitive customer PII.
  • Operations Manager
    <50M USD
    Services (non-Government)
    Review Source

    Granular AWS IAM Policies Enhance Security but Increase Management Complexity

    4.0
    Mar 10, 2026
    Managing access across our diverse infrastructure requires strict security controls. AWS IAM provides incredible granularity, allowing us to enforce least-privilege policies perfectly across our engineering teams. However, the sheer complexity of managing these policies at scale can become an operational bottleneck.
  • Engineering Manager
    <50M USD
    IT Services
    Review Source

    Granular Control and Flexibility Noted as Strengths in AWS IAM Experience

    5.0
    Mar 6, 2026
    My experience with IAM in AWS has been very positive. Having worked with identity and access services both on premises and in other cloud platforms, such as OCI, I find AWS IAM to be one of the most complete solutions available. It provides very granular control while remaining relatively straightforward once the core concepts are understood.
  • Data Analyst
    <50M USD
    Banking
    Review Source

    AWS IAM Delivers Strong Security But Presents Notable Complexity And Usability Challenges

    5.0
    Sep 10, 2025
    AWS IAM is the foundation of security for any AWS workload. It's a critical, reliable, and powerful service that enables us to enforce a strong security posture. It's not the easiest to learn, but the peace of mind it provides is well worth the effort.
...
Showing Result 1-5 of 382

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