diff --git a/internal/pipe/archive/archive.go b/internal/pipe/archive/archive.go
index 909920efb..7cac6d123 100644
--- a/internal/pipe/archive/archive.go
+++ b/internal/pipe/archive/archive.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 package archive
 
 import (
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
@@ -28,6 +29,11 @@ const (
 	defaultBinaryNameTemplate = "{{ .Binary }}_{{ .Version }}_{{ .Os }}_{{ .Arch }}{{ if .Arm }}v{{ .Arm }}{{ end }}{{ if .Mips }}_{{ .Mips }}{{ end }}"
 )
 
+// ErrArchiveDifferentBinaryCount happens when an archive uses several builds which have different goos/goarch/etc sets,
+// causing the archives for some platforms to have more binaries than others.
+// GoReleaser breaks in these cases as it will only cause confusion to other users.
+var ErrArchiveDifferentBinaryCount = errors.New("archive has different count of built binaries for each platform, which may cause your users confusion. Please make sure all builds used have the same set of goos/goarch/etc or split it into multiple archives")
+
 // nolint: gochecknoglobals
 var lock sync.Mutex
 
@@ -83,15 +89,18 @@ func (Pipe) Default(ctx *context.Context) error {
 // Run the pipe.
 func (Pipe) Run(ctx *context.Context) error {
 	var g = semerrgroup.New(ctx.Parallelism)
-	for _, archive := range ctx.Config.Archives {
+	for i, archive := range ctx.Config.Archives {
 		archive := archive
-		var filtered = ctx.Artifacts.Filter(
+		var artifacts = ctx.Artifacts.Filter(
 			artifact.And(
 				artifact.ByType(artifact.Binary),
 				artifact.ByIDs(archive.Builds...),
 			),
-		)
-		for group, artifacts := range filtered.GroupByPlatform() {
+		).GroupByPlatform()
+		if err := checkArtifacts(artifacts); err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("invalid archive: %d: %w", i, ErrArchiveDifferentBinaryCount)
+		}
+		for group, artifacts := range artifacts {
 			log.Debugf("group %s has %d binaries", group, len(artifacts))
 			artifacts := artifacts
 			g.Go(func() error {
@@ -105,6 +114,17 @@ func (Pipe) Run(ctx *context.Context) error {
 	return g.Wait()
 }
 
+func checkArtifacts(artifacts map[string][]*artifact.Artifact) error {
+	var lens = map[int]bool{}
+	for _, v := range artifacts {
+		lens[len(v)] = true
+	}
+	if len(lens) == 1 {
+		return nil
+	}
+	return ErrArchiveDifferentBinaryCount
+}
+
 func create(ctx *context.Context, arch config.Archive, binaries []*artifact.Artifact) error {
 	var format = packageFormat(arch, binaries[0].Goos)
 	folder, err := tmpl.New(ctx).
diff --git a/internal/pipe/archive/archive_test.go b/internal/pipe/archive/archive_test.go
index d150b7ab0..71eb0e8f8 100644
--- a/internal/pipe/archive/archive_test.go
+++ b/internal/pipe/archive/archive_test.go
@@ -181,6 +181,69 @@ func TestRunPipe(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestRunPipeDifferentBinaryCount(t *testing.T) {
+	folder, back := testlib.Mktmp(t)
+	defer back()
+	var dist = filepath.Join(folder, "dist")
+	require.NoError(t, os.Mkdir(dist, 0755))
+	for _, arch := range []string{"darwinamd64", "linuxamd64"} {
+		createFakeBinary(t, dist, arch, "bin/mybin")
+	}
+	createFakeBinary(t, dist, "darwinamd64", "bin/foobar")
+	var ctx = context.New(config.Project{
+		Dist:        dist,
+		ProjectName: "foobar",
+		Archives: []config.Archive{
+			{
+				ID:           "myid",
+				Format:       "tar.gz",
+				Builds:       []string{"default", "foobar"},
+				NameTemplate: defaultNameTemplate,
+			},
+		},
+	})
+	var darwinBuild = &artifact.Artifact{
+		Goos:   "darwin",
+		Goarch: "amd64",
+		Name:   "bin/mybin",
+		Path:   filepath.Join(dist, "darwinamd64", "bin", "mybin"),
+		Type:   artifact.Binary,
+		Extra: map[string]interface{}{
+			"Binary": "bin/mybin",
+			"ID":     "default",
+		},
+	}
+	var darwinBuild2 = &artifact.Artifact{
+		Goos:   "darwin",
+		Goarch: "amd64",
+		Name:   "bin/foobar",
+		Path:   filepath.Join(dist, "darwinamd64", "bin", "foobar"),
+		Type:   artifact.Binary,
+		Extra: map[string]interface{}{
+			"Binary": "bin/foobar",
+			"ID":     "foobar",
+		},
+	}
+	var linuxArmBuild = &artifact.Artifact{
+		Goos:   "linux",
+		Goarch: "amd64",
+		Name:   "bin/mybin",
+		Path:   filepath.Join(dist, "linuxamd64", "bin", "mybin"),
+		Type:   artifact.Binary,
+		Extra: map[string]interface{}{
+			"Binary": "bin/mybin",
+			"ID":     "default",
+		},
+	}
+
+	ctx.Artifacts.Add(darwinBuild)
+	ctx.Artifacts.Add(darwinBuild2)
+	ctx.Artifacts.Add(linuxArmBuild)
+	ctx.Version = "0.0.1"
+	ctx.Git.CurrentTag = "v0.0.1"
+	require.EqualError(t, Pipe{}.Run(ctx), "invalid archive: 0: "+ErrArchiveDifferentBinaryCount.Error())
+}
+
 func zipFiles(t *testing.T, path string) []string {
 	f, err := os.Open(path)
 	require.NoError(t, err)