Salesforce permission set license exceeded" limit

TL;DR

Reclaim unused permission set licenses or purchase more. The limit is enforced at assignment time, so over-assignment fails loudly.

Error

Salesforce permission set license exceeded: limit reached

Steps

1. List assignments of the permission set license and find inactive users or users who no longer need it. Expected: reclaim candidates identified.
2. Remove the assignments you do not need. Expected: licenses freed.
3. If the demand is legitimate, purchase additional permission set licenses. Expected: the limit raised.
4. Retry the assignment. Expected: it succeeds.

When to use

• Permission set license assignment fails on the limit
• A new team needs a permission set license that is maxed out
• The limit was fine until headcount grew

When not to use

• The base user license is the problem (different limit)
• The assignment fails for another reason (read the error)
• You want to audit usage (same listing step, different goal)

Tool compatibility

Salesforce permission set licenses, all editions.

Variant phrasings

limit hit by a managed package license

Managed packages consume their own license types. Check the package's license, not the org's.

assignments exceed after a sandbox refresh

Sandboxes copy assignments; clean them up or ignore sandbox counts.

Why it happens

Permission set licenses are separately purchased and separately limited. Teams treat them as unlimited until the assignment that crosses the line fails.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_RJ3iVsJ3FpAsZEo7ij3YYQ