# Well-Architected Agent vs Tool vs Trusted Advisor vs a partner review

Checklist for the **October 1, 2026** preview of AWS Well-Architected Agent. Re-open the quotas page before you create a profile. Preview limits can change.

Sources:

- [What is AWS Well-Architected Agent (preview)?](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/wellarchitected/latest/userguide/agent.html)
- [Quotas and limits](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/wellarchitected/latest/userguide/agent-quotas.html)
- [Conducting architecture reviews](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/wellarchitected/latest/userguide/agent-architecture-reviews.html)
- [Release notes](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/wellarchitected/latest/userguide/release-notes.html)

Pair this file with [profile-scope-worksheet.csv](profile-scope-worksheet.csv).

## 1. Confirm the support plan

Check the plan name in the AWS Support console.

- [ ] **Business+**, **Enterprise On-Ramp**, **Enterprise Support**, or **Unified Operations**: you can create profiles.
- [ ] **Developer** or **Business**: stop. The quotas page lists no access. Use the Well-Architected Tool, or book a partner review.

| Support tier | Access | Max profiles | Max applications per profile |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Developer | No | none | none |
| Business | No | none | none |
| Business+ | Yes | 2 | 7 |
| Enterprise On-Ramp | Yes | 10 | 30 |
| Enterprise Support | Yes | 10 | 30 |
| Unified Operations | Yes | 10 | 30 |

## 2. Pick one host Region

- [ ] Profile host is **us-east-1**, **us-east-2**, or **us-west-2**.
- [ ] Workloads may run in any commercial Region. The scan is not limited to the host Region.
- [ ] The S3 bucket that holds IaC for an architecture review is in the **same Region as the profile**.

## 3. Scope one profile

- [ ] Accounts in the profile: **100 or fewer**.
- [ ] Active goals: **10 or fewer**.
- [ ] Applications at or under the tier cap (**7** on Business+, **30** on the three higher tiers).
- [ ] A named person owns review of any SSM runbook, CLI script, or IaC diff before apply.

## 4. Assign the job

| Path | Use it for | Leave it in place when you add the agent |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Trusted Advisor | Checks the agent ingests | The checks stay on. The agent ranks and packages findings. |
| Well-Architected Tool | Milestones, answers, HRI and MRI trail, lenses | Operational Excellence, Sustainability, and any lens other than the framework lens on an agent architecture review. |
| Well-Architected Agent | 7-day recommendation refresh (30 per run) and on-demand IaC reviews (5 per day per profile) | Human review of every generated fix. Application-level recommendations are beta. |
| Partner-led review | Diligence, a facilitated workshop, a written plan | The review calendar in the [buyer guide](https://www.factualminds.com/blog/aws-well-architected-review-buyer-guide-2026/). |

## 5. Before the first architecture review

- [ ] Input is a **.zip of 25 MB or smaller**, or an S3 folder of **100 MB or smaller** with each file **1 MB or smaller**.
- [ ] You can consent to the file read. The review will not start without that checkbox.
- [ ] Lens is the Well-Architected Framework lens only: `arn:aws:wellarchitected::aws:lens/wellarchitected`.
- [ ] Pillars are chosen from cost optimization, security, resilience, and performance.
- [ ] You have read the unsupported resource-type table. OpenSearch domains, WAFv2 WebACLs, Lambda layer versions, IAM inline policies, Control Tower enabled controls, and ELB listener rules are omitted from resource-level recommendations.

## 6. Same-day rule

- [ ] Resource and application recommendations wait for the scheduled run. The on-demand API accepts `ARCHITECTURE` only.
- [ ] You read the first result. You do not apply the first SSM document on the day it appears.