As a user, what I like most about AWS IAM is the strong control and security it provides for managing access to AWS resources. It supports very granular permission management, so users only receive access to what they actually need. Features like role-based access, policies, and permission boundaries make it easier to follow security best practices and keep permissions well-scoped. Once the initial setup is in place, it runs reliably in the background without requiring much day-to-day attention. I also appreciate how smoothly IAM integrates with other AWS services, which helps keep access management consistent across the platform. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The biggest challenge with IAM is the learning curve. For people who aren’t security or cloud experts, IAM policies can be difficult to understand at first—especially the JSON-based policy structure. Even a small mistake in a policy can cause access issues that take time to track down and troubleshoot. From a user’s perspective, the error messages also aren’t always very descriptive, which can make debugging harder. That said, once you become familiar with how IAM works, it gets much easier to use and manage. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The best thing in AWS IAM is controlling access to AWS resources and services is simple and secure. Setting up is easy and interface is straight forward. It integrates smoothly with AWS services. Mainly it manages permissions all at one place. Without any extra tool integration, it works well. IAM gives features like roles, policies etc. which helps us to keep accounts and data safe.

One more thing that I like about IAM is that it saves time and reduces mistake. Instead of manually adding permissions for each service, we can add or create one policy and apply them easily. There is a document made from AWS which helps the customer when guidance is required.

I was using IAM frequently when I worked in my previous project. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I dislike about AWS IAM is that it is sometimes complicated while creating detailed policies. Sometimes understanding JSON policy syntax takes time. Managing a large number of users and roles can be confused. There is no simple way to visualize permissions. Integration with other AWS services works well but setting up access and permissions can be little tricky. Mistakes made in policy configurations; this can lead to access issues. Setting up permissions and configurations requires extra care.

Customer support can sometimes feel slow for detailed IAM issues. Advanced configurations are a bit challenging. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) because it provides ease of access and the ability to fine-tune permissions. I appreciate how I can create service roles and attach them to virtual machines or containers, allowing these roles to access specific resources like CloudWatch, S3, and SES. The fine-grained resource-level permissions make it invaluable for managing user access control and service role management. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Having a lot of options is another reason I hesitate to play around with roles that work fine. I am sometimes unsure if I will break my already existing role that works fine. Also, the initial setup was complex until I got more familiar with it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

AWS IAM provides very granular and flexible access control, allowing us to precisely define permissions using policies, roles, and conditions. The tight integration with all AWS services makes it easy to enforce least-privilege access across the environment. IAM roles for workloads (EC2, EKS, Lambda) are especially helpful because they eliminate long-lived credentials and improve security by design. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

IAM can be complex and difficult to manage at scale, especially as the number of policies, roles, and accounts grows. Policy syntax is powerful but not always intuitive, which increases the risk of misconfiguration. Troubleshooting permission issues can be time-consuming, and the user interface is not always friendly for understanding effective permissions. Managing IAM across multiple accounts often requires additional tooling and governance layers. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What I like best about AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) is its ability to provide fine-grained access control and strong security. It allows you to manage users, groups, and roles with precise permissions, ensuring that each user or service has only the access they need. IAM supports multi-factor authentication, temporary credentials, and seamless integration with other AWS services, making it easy to secure and manage resources at scale while following best security practices, Ease to use, Implement Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

One thing I dislike about AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) is that it can be complex and difficult to manage at scale. Creating and maintaining policies for many users, roles, and services can become confusing, especially when permissions overlap or are inherited. Mistakes in policy configuration can lead to either overly restrictive access or unintended permissions, making it challenging for teams to ensure consistent and error-free security without careful planning and auditing. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The level of granularity AWS IAM provides is truly unmatched. It lets us apply the "Principle of Least Privilege" with real, surgical precision. Whether I’m creating Service-Linked Roles, building complex Condition Keys, or using Identity Federation to sync with our corporate directory (like Okta or Azure AD), IAM handles it smoothly. I also really appreciate the IAM Access Analyzer, which proactively flags resources that are shared with external entities—it’s been a lifesaver during compliance audits. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The learning curve for writing JSON policies can be steep, especially for newcomers. Although the Visual Editor has improved a lot, tracking down the source of a “Deny” within a complex hierarchy of SCPs (Service Control Policies), resource-based policies, and identity-based policies can still be challenging—and at times it feels like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

AWS IAM is available by default in every AWS account, requiring no separate setup or licensing. Creating users, roles and policies can be done via: AWS console, CLI, Infrastructure as code.

AWS provide excellent documentation,, best practice guides and examples of IAM.

IAM is one of the most frequently used AWS services because every AWS service depends on it, it's used daily access control, role based access and automation.

IAM integrated seamlessly with other AWS services i.e EC2, S3, Lambda, RDS etc. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

IMA policies are very powerful but also complex. When access is denied, identifying which policy caused the denial can be time consuming. In large AWS environments, it becomes difficult to track unused permissions, identify over privileged users. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

AWS IAM is a very easy to use, integrated application within the AWS ecosystem that allows for simple access management for individuals, groups, etc. within one unified section that can apply to all services used through AWS. It has a very simple and user-friendly UI for IT teams and syncs with all other AWS services that use IAM allowing for one application to control an entire enterprise's access management. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

AWS IAM can get overwhelming and complicated to manage as enterprises or companies get larger making the overall experience a little more complex. There is also a fairly steep learning curve especially when transitioning to AWS for the first time, as well as the semi-requirement of ability to use JSON syntax. Also, IAM isn't particularly useful unless the organization functions mostly or entirely off of AWS. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The granular, policy-based access control lets you enforce least-privilege permissions across every AWS service, making it easy to manage security at scale without compromising flexibility. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The policy syntax can be complex and verbose, and debugging permission errors is frustrating — the error messages rarely tell you exactly which policy is blocking access. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

As I’ve found, the platform integrates smoothly with most mainstream SaaS applications and supports modern authentication standards such as SAML, OAuth, and MFA. The reporting and access logs are detailed enough to meet security and audit requirements, without having to rely too heavily on third-party tools. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

From my point of view, the initial setup is complex and not very beginner-friendly. While documentation is available, it often assumes prior IAM experience, which can slow down configuration for teams that are new to identity management. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.