iam-lint vs s3tk: 2026 Comparison
iam-lint is a free cloud security posture management tool. s3tk 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.
DevOps and security teams running S3-heavy AWS environments will get immediate value from s3tk because it's free, open-source, and requires no agent deployment or cloud integration,just point it at your buckets. The 461 GitHub stars and zero setup friction mean you can scan your entire S3 estate for misconfigurations, overpermissioned ACLs, and unencrypted data in minutes, not weeks. Skip this if you need continuous runtime monitoring or policy enforcement across your broader cloud infrastructure; s3tk is a scanner, not a guard rail, and works best as part of a larger CSPM rather than a replacement for one.
