diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/autoscaling/qa/rest/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/autoscaling/delete_autoscaling_policy.yml b/x-pack/plugin/autoscaling/qa/rest/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/autoscaling/delete_autoscaling_policy.yml
index 624bbcb99236..e6fdef26bf0f 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/autoscaling/qa/rest/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/autoscaling/delete_autoscaling_policy.yml
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/autoscaling/qa/rest/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/autoscaling/delete_autoscaling_policy.yml
@@ -44,13 +44,13 @@
       autoscaling.put_autoscaling_policy:
         name: my_autoscaling_policy_1
         body:
-          roles: []
+          roles: [ "data" ]
 
   - do:
       autoscaling.put_autoscaling_policy:
         name: my_autoscaling_policy_2
         body:
-          roles: []
+          roles: [ "data" ]
 
   - do:
       autoscaling.delete_autoscaling_policy:
@@ -72,13 +72,13 @@
       autoscaling.put_autoscaling_policy:
         name: my_autoscaling_policy_delete
         body:
-          roles: []
+          roles: [ "data" ]
 
   - do:
       autoscaling.put_autoscaling_policy:
         name: my_autoscaling_policy_keep
         body:
-          roles: []
+          roles: [ "data" ]
 
   - do:
       autoscaling.delete_autoscaling_policy:
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/autoscaling/qa/rest/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/autoscaling/put_autoscaling_policy.yml b/x-pack/plugin/autoscaling/qa/rest/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/autoscaling/put_autoscaling_policy.yml
index 7551b7bba43a..4f603ca377b9 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/autoscaling/qa/rest/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/autoscaling/put_autoscaling_policy.yml
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/autoscaling/qa/rest/src/yamlRestTest/resources/rest-api-spec/test/autoscaling/put_autoscaling_policy.yml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
       autoscaling.put_autoscaling_policy:
         name: my_autoscaling_policy
         body:
-          roles: [ master ]
+          roles: [ data_content ]
 
   - match: { "acknowledged": true }
 
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
   - do:
       autoscaling.get_autoscaling_policy:
         name: my_autoscaling_policy
-  - match: { roles: [ master ] }
+  - match: { roles: [ data_content ] }
   - match: { deciders.fixed: {} }
 
   # update roles
@@ -112,3 +112,12 @@
           policy:
             fixed:
               storage: bad
+
+---
+"Test put autoscaling policy with no default deciders":
+  - do:
+      catch: bad_request
+      autoscaling.put_autoscaling_policy:
+        name: my_autoscaling_policy
+        body:
+          roles: [ ]
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/autoscaling/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/autoscaling/action/TransportPutAutoscalingPolicyActionIT.java b/x-pack/plugin/autoscaling/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/autoscaling/action/TransportPutAutoscalingPolicyActionIT.java
index 8b4bfa876082..6fd7f7fa1eb6 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/autoscaling/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/autoscaling/action/TransportPutAutoscalingPolicyActionIT.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/autoscaling/src/internalClusterTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/autoscaling/action/TransportPutAutoscalingPolicyActionIT.java
@@ -11,9 +11,12 @@ import org.elasticsearch.cluster.service.ClusterService;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Strings;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.autoscaling.AutoscalingIntegTestCase;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.autoscaling.AutoscalingMetadata;
-import org.elasticsearch.xpack.autoscaling.AutoscalingTestCase;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.autoscaling.policy.AutoscalingPolicy;
 
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.TreeMap;
+import java.util.TreeSet;
+
 import static org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions.assertAcked;
 import static org.elasticsearch.xpack.autoscaling.AutoscalingTestCase.mutateAutoscalingDeciders;
 import static org.elasticsearch.xpack.autoscaling.AutoscalingTestCase.randomAutoscalingDeciders;
@@ -39,7 +42,7 @@ public class TransportPutAutoscalingPolicyActionIT extends AutoscalingIntegTestC
         final AutoscalingPolicy policy = putRandomAutoscalingPolicy();
         final AutoscalingPolicy updatedPolicy = new AutoscalingPolicy(
             policy.name(),
-            AutoscalingTestCase.randomRoles(),
+            new TreeSet<>(randomSubsetOf(List.of("data", "data_content", "data_hot", "data_warm", "data_cold"))),
             mutateAutoscalingDeciders(policy.deciders())
         );
         putAutoscalingPolicy(updatedPolicy);
@@ -73,6 +76,19 @@ public class TransportPutAutoscalingPolicyActionIT extends AutoscalingIntegTestC
         );
     }
 
+    public void testPutNoDeciderPolicy() {
+        String policyName = randomAlphaOfLength(8);
+        IllegalArgumentException exception = expectThrows(
+            IllegalArgumentException.class,
+            () -> putAutoscalingPolicy(new AutoscalingPolicy(policyName, new TreeSet<>(), new TreeMap<>()))
+        );
+
+        assertThat(
+            exception.getMessage(),
+            containsString("no default nor user configured deciders for policy [" + policyName + "] with roles [[]]")
+        );
+    }
+
     private AutoscalingPolicy putRandomAutoscalingPolicy() {
         final AutoscalingPolicy policy = randomAutoscalingPolicy();
         putAutoscalingPolicy(policy);
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/autoscaling/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/autoscaling/capacity/AutoscalingCalculateCapacityService.java b/x-pack/plugin/autoscaling/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/autoscaling/capacity/AutoscalingCalculateCapacityService.java
index 2243a6e96729..1d1131e26e8e 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/autoscaling/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/autoscaling/capacity/AutoscalingCalculateCapacityService.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/autoscaling/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/autoscaling/capacity/AutoscalingCalculateCapacityService.java
@@ -50,6 +50,12 @@ public class AutoscalingCalculateCapacityService implements PolicyValidator {
 
     public void validate(AutoscalingPolicy policy) {
         policy.deciders().forEach((name, configuration) -> validate(name, configuration, policy.roles()));
+        SortedMap<String, Settings> deciders = addDefaultDeciders(policy);
+        if (deciders.isEmpty()) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+                "no default nor user configured deciders for policy [" + policy.name() + "] with roles [" + policy.roles() + "]"
+            );
+        }
     }
 
     private void validate(final String deciderName, final Settings configuration, SortedSet<String> roles) {
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/autoscaling/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/autoscaling/capacity/AutoscalingCalculateCapacityServiceTests.java b/x-pack/plugin/autoscaling/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/autoscaling/capacity/AutoscalingCalculateCapacityServiceTests.java
index 4f5e3db5d395..f36347ce30d2 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/autoscaling/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/autoscaling/capacity/AutoscalingCalculateCapacityServiceTests.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/autoscaling/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/autoscaling/capacity/AutoscalingCalculateCapacityServiceTests.java
@@ -335,6 +335,21 @@ public class AutoscalingCalculateCapacityServiceTests extends AutoscalingTestCas
         );
     }
 
+    public void testValidateNotEmptyDeciders() {
+        AutoscalingCalculateCapacityService service = new AutoscalingCalculateCapacityService(Set.of(new FixedAutoscalingDeciderService()));
+        String policyName = randomAlphaOfLength(8);
+        AutoscalingPolicy policy = new AutoscalingPolicy(
+            policyName,
+            new TreeSet<>(randomBoolean() ? Set.of() : Set.of("master")),
+            new TreeMap<>()
+        );
+        IllegalArgumentException exception = expectThrows(IllegalArgumentException.class, () -> service.validate(policy));
+        assertThat(
+            exception.getMessage(),
+            equalTo("no default nor user configured deciders for policy [" + policyName + "] with roles [" + policy.roles() + "]")
+        );
+    }
+
     public void testValidateSettingName() {
         AutoscalingCalculateCapacityService service = new AutoscalingCalculateCapacityService(Set.of(new FixedAutoscalingDeciderService()));
         Set<String> legalNames = Set.of(