Tokamak plasmas can amplify very small resonant components of error fields (EFs) when operating close to the ideal magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) limits. Such EFs are well diagnosed in ASDEX Upgrade tokamak (Igochine V et al 2017 Nucl. Fusion 57 116027, Maraschek M et al 40th EPS Conf. on Plasma Physics 2013 P4.127), which allows to model EF as well as the correction required for the optimal compensation. Experiments on ASDEX Upgrade show that EF correction considering the plasma effect, as it is foreseen for ITER, is necessary even in the case of small resonant EF. Such correction improves the achievable by 10% and makes discharges more stable with respect to ideal modes.