iam-lint vs AWS Scout2: 2026 Comparison
iam-lint is a free cloud security posture management tool. AWS Scout2 is a free cloud security posture management tool. Compare features, ratings, integrations, and community reviews side by side to find the best cloud security posture management fit for your security stack.
CST VerdictBased on our analysis of available product data, here is our conclusion:
Teams automating IAM policy review in CI/CD pipelines will get real value from iam-lint because it catches overpermissioned policies before they reach AWS, not after deployment. The tool runs free as a GitHub action with configurable severity rules, making it practical for squads that want shift-left IAM governance without licensing friction. Skip this if your organization needs centralized policy enforcement across multiple cloud providers or dynamic entitlement review; iam-lint is AWS-only and static-analysis-only, best suited to developers who own their own IAM definitions.
Security teams auditing AWS accounts on a budget should start with AWS Scout2 because it maps configuration findings directly to NIST CSF 2.0 Govern and Manage functions without licensing friction. The tool's API-driven approach identifies misconfigurations across IAM, S3, and networking in minutes, and at 1,700+ GitHub stars it has real production validation from teams who've forked and customized it. Skip this if you need continuous monitoring or remediation workflows; Scout2 is a periodic assessment tool, not a runtime control platform.
