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Amazon Q Developer vs Kiro
Amazon Q Developer is AWS’s AI assistant for building and operating software, not an IDE with spec-driven agents.
Amazon Q DeveloperAWS's AI assistant for building and operating software
KiroAgentic IDE with spec-driven development, from AWSWhich to pick
Pick Amazon Q Developer if you want…
- AI-assisted coding across the SDLC
- AWS-centric AI assistance
- The lower starting price: $19/month per user against $20/month per user
- Integrations with JetBrains, VS Code or Visual Studio (on Amazon Q Developer's list, not Kiro's)
Pick Kiro if you want…
- Spec-driven development with AI agents
- Integrations with AWS IAM Identity Center (on Kiro's list, not Amazon Q Developer's)
Side by side
- What it is
- Amazon Q Developer:Amazon Q Developer is an AI coding assistant that writes, debugs, refactors, and transforms code directly in IDEs, CLI, and chat apps.
- Kiro:Kiro is an agentic IDE that turns prompts into specs, validates code, and runs parallel AI agents across large codebases.
- Best for
- Amazon Q Developer:AI-assisted coding across the SDLC
- Kiro:Spec-driven development with AI agents
- Who it’s for
- Amazon Q Developer:Software developers and DevOps engineers using AWS services
- Kiro:Professional developers and software teams building and maintaining large codebases.
- Pricing
- Amazon Q Developer:Freemium
- Kiro:Freemium
- Plans
- Amazon Q Developer:Free Tier $0 · Pro $19 per month per user
- Kiro:KIRO FREE $0 · KIRO PRO $20 per user / month · KIRO PRO+ $40 per user / month · KIRO PRO MAX $100 per user / month · KIRO POWER $200 per user / month
- Works with
- Amazon Q Developer:JetBrains, VS Code, Visual Studio, Eclipse, AWS Management Console, Microsoft Teams, Slack, GitLab
- Kiro:AWS IAM Identity Center
Amazon Q Developer features
- Real-time code suggestions. Generates snippets to full functions from comments and existing code in supported IDEs and CLI.
- Agentic coding tasks. Automates multi-step tasks like testing, documentation, and code reviews by reading/writing files and running commands.
- Vulnerability scanning. Analyzes code for security issues and suggests remediations, outperforming public benchmark tools.
- AWS expertise. Provides guidance on cloud costs, architecture best practices, and operational troubleshooting within AWS console and chat apps.
- Code transformation. Accelerates Java and .NET upgrades, converting up to 1,000 LOC/month for free and 4,000 LOC/month on Pro.
- Secure private repo access. Connects to private repositories for context-aware recommendations while keeping proprietary content private.
Kiro features
- Spec-driven development. Generate executable specifications from natural-language prompts and run them against your code.
- Parallel AI agents. Run multiple agents that learn from each session to speed up large-scale code changes.
- Kiro CLI & IDE. Interact via a terminal UI or full-featured IDE with cloud-backed sessions.
- Cloud workspaces. Create cloud sessions that sync local agents, hooks, and steering configurations.
- Model selection & credits. Choose from open-weight, Claude, and premium models; usage metered in credits.
- Team billing & SSO. Per-user plans with consolidated billing, SAML/SCIM SSO via AWS IAM Identity Center.
Amazon Q Developer vs Kiro FAQ
Is Amazon Q Developer or Kiro free?+
Amazon Q Developer has a free plan (Free Tier); paid plans start at $19/month per user (Pro). Kiro has a free plan (KIRO FREE); paid plans start at $20/month per user (KIRO PRO).
Which is cheaper, Amazon Q Developer or Kiro?+
Amazon Q Developer is cheaper to start with: Amazon Q Developer's Pro plan ($19/month per user) against Kiro's KIRO PRO plan ($20/month per user).
Do Amazon Q Developer and Kiro integrate with the same tools?+
Their integration lists don't overlap: Amazon Q Developer lists JetBrains, VS Code, Visual Studio, Eclipse and 6 more; Kiro lists AWS IAM Identity Center.
On DevHunt
Based on each tool's website and DevHunt data. Details may change; check the official sites.