A limit that is placed on the number of deployed virtual machines for a user or group in virtual machine self-service. Each virtual machine can add zero or more quota points toward a virtual machine quota that is set for a self-service policy. If the self-service policy is associated with a group, the quota either can be shared by all group members (under shared ownership) or can apply to each group member individually (under per user ownership). The quota does not apply to stored virtual machines.