This paper aims to study the experimental behavior of web cleat, bolted between beam–to–column in terms of strength, relative rotation, and failure mechanism of web cleat leg attached to the column web. The study was carried out to understand the effect of 230 mm depth (B) of web cleat primarily subjected to a shear load. Three different parameters were considered for the study namely (i) aspect ratio (L/B = 0.15–0.42) of web cleat leg attached to the column, (ii) thicknesses of web cleat (TC = 1.5 mm, 2.0 mm and 2.5 mm), and (iii) bolt configuration (Bn = 2 and 3 numbers). The aspect ratio (L/B) was taken as the ratio of the flat distance (between the folded line and bolt line) to the depth of the clip angle. A total of thirty-eight specimens of different configurations were tested under a four-point bending test. The test results indicate an increase in the ultimate strength with the reduction in aspect ratio. Similarly, the ultimate strength increased for the specimens with a three-bolt configuration when compared to the corresponding specimens with a two-bolt configuration. A majority of the tested specimens failed due to local buckling except few specimens which exhibited shearing of bolts and bearing of the beam under the loading points. A comparison of test results with the literature indicates that the test results are un-conservative for two–bolted specimens with slenderness ratio (λ) of the web cleat lesser than 0.6. The reliability studies were performed for the design of bolted web cleat configuration with limitation. © 2021 Institution of Structural Engineers