Amazon Q Developer — Independent Software Review

The most capable generative AI–powered assistant for software development.

Compliance Transparency Index

Grade: A — Score: 90/100

Best For

• AWS-centered development and operations teams that want coding assistance and AWS resource guidance under the same identity and permission model.
• Java teams planning supported application upgrades. The transformation agent includes metered lines of code in both Free and Pro tiers.
• Teams that want code review covering SAST, secrets, infrastructure as code, software composition, quality, and deployment risk checks.
• Organizations already using IAM Identity Center that need centralized subscriptions, policy controls, dashboards, and prompt logging options.

Not Ideal For

• Teams choosing an IDE assistant for use beyond April 30, 2027. AWS has announced the end of Q Developer IDE plugin support and directs users to Kiro.
• Developers who want one settled Amazon command-line product. AWS marketing still presents Q Developer CLI access, while its current documentation says the Q CLI became the Kiro CLI.
• Non-AWS or multi-cloud teams that prioritize the broadest editor ecosystem over AWS console, resource, cost, and modernization assistance.
• Free Tier users who cannot permit content use for service improvement and do not want to manage an individual opt-out. Pro does not collect content for service improvement, while Free requires an opt-out.

Operational Overview

Pricing Structure

Free Tier: $0/user/month

• Perpetual free tier rather than a time-limited trial
• 50 agentic requests per month; AWS pricing counts IDE and CLI interactions, although current documentation moves Q CLI to Kiro
• 1,000 Java transformation lines of code per user each month
• Reference tracking and suppression of public-code suggestions
• Content sharing can be disabled, but Free Tier content may otherwise be used for service improvement and model training

Pro Tier: $19/user/month

• 10,000 inference calls, described by AWS as roughly 1,000 user inputs per month
• 4,000 Java transformation lines of code per user each month, pooled at payer-account level
• $0.003 per additional submitted Java transformation line
• IAM Identity Center administration, user policies, and dashboards
• Pro content is not collected for service improvement, and the plan includes IP indemnity subject to AWS terms

Alternative Consideration

Consider switching to Kiro: Kiro offers similar capabilities with updated models and features post Amazon Q Developer support discontinuation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Amazon Q Developer the replacement for Amazon CodeWhisperer?

Yes. AWS states that Amazon CodeWhisperer became part of Amazon Q Developer on April 30, 2024 and that CodeWhisperer's features moved to Q Developer. Existing CodeWhisperer buyers should evaluate the current Q Developer product name, plans, and lifecycle rather than treat CodeWhisperer as a separately maintained assistant.

Is Amazon Q Developer being discontinued in favor of Kiro?

AWS has not announced the end of the entire Amazon Q Developer service. It has announced that Q Developer IDE plugin support will end on April 30, 2027 and directs those users to Kiro, while the Q Developer documentation says the Q CLI has already become the Kiro CLI. AWS still documents Q Developer capabilities in the AWS console, GitHub, GitLab Duo, Microsoft Teams, and Slack, so the transition depends on which interface you use.

How does Amazon Q Developer compare with GitHub Copilot?

Amazon Q Developer Pro costs $19 per user per month and combines IDE assistance with AWS console guidance, security review, and metered Java transformation. GitHub Copilot Pro costs $10 per user per month, supports a broader editor list, includes third-party agents such as Claude Code and Codex, and provides unlimited code completions plus $15 in monthly AI credits. Amazon Q is the stronger fit for AWS-centered operations and modernization, while Copilot better fits teams prioritizing GitHub workflows and editor breadth.

Does Amazon Q Developer use code or prompts to train models?

Amazon Q Developer Free Tier may use certain questions, responses, and generated code for service improvement, including model training. Free users can opt out through AWS Organizations or the applicable IDE or command-line setting. AWS states that Q Developer Pro content is not used for service improvement and that Pro does not collect content through the documented IDE data-sharing controls.

Which IDEs does Amazon Q Developer support?

AWS documents Amazon Q Developer support for Visual Studio Code, JetBrains IDEs, Eclipse, and Visual Studio. Chat, agentic coding, MCP servers, workspace context, and inline suggestions are listed across all four, but inline chat and transformations vary by IDE. These integrations are time-limited because AWS will end Q Developer IDE plugin support on April 30, 2027.

Which programming languages does Amazon Q Developer support?

Chat and inline chat can be used with any programming language, although AWS says output quality varies with language popularity. AWS lists 21 languages with its strongest inline-suggestion support, including C, C++, C#, Go, Java, JavaScript, Python, Rust, SQL, Swift, and TypeScript, plus CDK, Terraform HCL, JSON, and YAML for infrastructure as code. Transformations are narrower: AWS documents Java and Oracle-to-PostgreSQL work in JetBrains and VS Code, and C# application transformations in Visual Studio.

Can Amazon Q Developer be used for applications outside AWS?

Yes. AWS describes Amazon Q Developer as supporting applications on or off AWS, and its IDE chat, code generation, tests, documentation, refactoring, and reviews are general software-development capabilities. Its strongest differentiation remains AWS-specific guidance for architecture, account resources, costs, networking, and application modernization.

Can Amazon Q Developer access AWS resources and account costs?

Amazon Q Developer can answer questions about AWS resources, account costs, architecture, networking, console errors, and operational incidents when the user has the required permissions. AWS states that Q respects IAM Identity Center identities, roles, and permissions, so access is not independent of the buyer's AWS governance. Generated instructions and commands still require human review because AWS does not warrant that AI output is unique or error-free.

Can Amazon Q Developer review code for security vulnerabilities?

Yes. Amazon Q Developer reviews code for SAST vulnerabilities, exposed secrets, infrastructure-as-code problems, code quality, deployment risks, and vulnerable third-party components. A file or project review accepts up to 500 MB of input and 50 MB of filtered source code, while Pro automatic reviews are limited to 200 KB. AWS combines generative AI with rule-based detectors and can suggest in-place remediations.

Is Amazon Q Developer the same product as Amazon Q Business?

No. Amazon Q Developer is the coding and AWS-operations product covered by this listing. AWS maintains separate Amazon Q Business documentation for workplace knowledge and enterprise information use cases. The two products share the Amazon Q brand but have separate scopes, documentation, and commercial terms.

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