ServiceQuotaExceededException
AWS ServiceQuotaExceededException means the request exceeds a configured service quota for the account/region. Depending on service, this can surface as HTTP 400 or HTTP 402.
Last reviewed: March 25, 2026|Editorial standard: source-backed technical guidance
What Does Service Quota Exceeded Exception Mean?
When ServiceQuotaExceededException is raised, AWS accepts the request format but blocks execution at quota enforcement, so provisioning or scaling flows pause until quota headroom is restored.
Common Causes
- -Resource count or size exceeded a configured service quota boundary.
- -Capacity planning did not account for regional growth or failover traffic shifts.
- -Temporary/orphaned resources consumed quota headroom unexpectedly.
- -Quota increase request was not approved before rollout demand.
How to Fix Service Quota Exceeded Exception
- 1Identify the exact quota code and current utilization in Service Quotas or service metrics.
- 2Reduce requested scope (count/size) and retry only after usage drops below quota.
- 3Clean up obsolete resources consuming the same quota dimension.
- 4Request quota increase for sustained workload requirements.
Step-by-Step Diagnosis for Service Quota Exceeded Exception
- 1Capture request ID and map the failing API action to its quota dimension.
- 2Compare real-time usage versus applied quota values per region/account.
- 3Determine whether limit is soft (increase possible) or hard (design change required).
- 4Audit deployment patterns that create quota-consuming resources repeatedly.
Quota Dimension Mapping
- -Map the failed operation to the exact quota code and scope (example: per-account-per-region resource count quotas differ from operation-rate quotas).
- -Verify whether the breached quota is adjustable or fixed (example: some service limits can be increased, while hard guardrails require design changes).
Capacity Planning and Drift Audit
- -Inspect current usage, orphaned resources, and growth trend in the affected region (example: stale resources consume quota headroom that new deployments need).
- -Trace rollout patterns that spike quota consumption (example: parallel environment creation bursts exceed expected daily quota burn).
How to Verify the Fix
- -Confirm operation succeeds after quota increase, cleanup, or workload downscaling.
- -Validate quota headroom remains above alert threshold under normal load.
- -Ensure adjacent provisioning steps no longer fail with quota exceptions.
How to Prevent Recurrence
- -Add pre-deploy quota checks for every quota-consuming operation.
- -Forecast quota utilization trends and request increases before saturation.
- -Automate stale resource cleanup to preserve quota headroom.
Pro Tip
- -attach quota codes to deployment telemetry and alert on forecasted exhaustion windows before planned release peaks.
Decision Support
Compare Guide
429 Too Many Requests vs 503 Service Unavailable
Use 429 for caller-specific throttling and 503 for service-wide outages, so retry behavior, escalation paths, and incident ownership stay correct.
Compare Guide
AWS ThrottlingException vs GCP RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED
Compare AWS ThrottlingException and GCP RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED to separate rate limiting from quota/resource exhaustion and choose the remediation path.
Playbook
Rate Limit Recovery Playbook (429 / ThrottlingException / RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED)
Use this playbook to separate transient throttling from hard quota exhaustion and apply retry, traffic-shaping, and quota-capacity fixes safely.
Official References
Provider Context
This guidance is specific to AWS services. Always validate implementation details against official provider documentation before deploying to production.