Amazon Q Developer Review 2026: AWS-Native AI Coding Assistant

What Is Amazon Q Developer?

Amazon Q Developer is AWS’s AI coding assistant, available as an IDE extension and through AWS console surfaces like Lambda, CloudShell, and Cloud9. It provides code completion, chat, inline editing, and an agentic mode for multi-file tasks. Unlike general-purpose coding assistants, Amazon Q Developer is built to understand AWS services deeply — from writing IAM policies to configuring CloudFormation templates.

It is powered by Claude Sonnet via AWS Bedrock and supports a 1M token context window, which allows it to reason over large files and complex project structures.

What It Does

Code Completion and Chat

Amazon Q Developer provides inline code completions and a chat panel within supported IDEs — VS Code, JetBrains, AWS Cloud9, and the Lambda console. Completions are context-aware and draw from your open files and project structure. The chat can answer questions about your code, explain errors, generate tests, and help with debugging. AWS-specific queries — “how do I configure this Lambda to use an SQS trigger?” — get particularly accurate answers.

Agentic Mode

The agentic mode allows Amazon Q Developer to plan and execute multi-file changes autonomously. You describe a task, and it reads your codebase, proposes a plan, edits files, and runs terminal commands. This mode is included in both the free tier (50 requests per month) and the Pro tier (unlimited). It handles tasks like adding new API endpoints, creating test suites, and refactoring modules across files.

Code Transformation

This is a standout feature. Amazon Q Developer can transform entire codebases between language versions — Java 8 to Java 17, .NET Framework to .NET Core, and similar upgrades. It analyzes dependencies, updates syntax, adjusts API calls, and handles the mechanical work of version migration. AWS charges $0.003 per line of code for transformation beyond the included quota. For organizations sitting on legacy Java or .NET codebases, this feature alone can justify the tool.

AWS Service Integration

Amazon Q Developer understands AWS services at a level that general-purpose tools cannot match. It can generate CloudFormation and CDK templates, write IAM policies with least-privilege principles, configure Step Functions, and debug deployment issues by reading CloudWatch logs. If your infrastructure runs on AWS, this contextual awareness saves significant time.

Pricing

Plan	Price	Key Features
Free	$0	Code completions, chat, 50 agentic requests/mo
Pro	$19/mo per user	Unlimited agentic requests, code transformation, IP indemnity

The free tier is genuinely usable — 50 agentic requests per month covers light to moderate use, and code completions and chat are unlimited. The Pro tier at $19/mo is competitively priced against GitHub Copilot and includes features like IP indemnity that enterprise teams require.

Pricing verified February 2026. Check AWS Amazon Q Developer pricing for current pricing.

Strengths

AWS integration is unmatched by any competitor. If your team builds on AWS, Amazon Q Developer understands your infrastructure in ways that Copilot, Cursor, and other tools simply do not. Writing IAM policies, generating CDK constructs, and debugging Lambda functions with full service awareness is a genuine productivity gain.

The free tier is among the most generous available. Fifty agentic requests per month, plus unlimited completions and chat, lets individual developers evaluate the tool thoroughly and use it for real work without paying.

Code transformation handles painful upgrades. Migrating a Java 8 codebase to Java 17 is tedious, error-prone manual work. Amazon Q Developer automates the mechanical parts, letting developers focus on the logic changes that require human judgment.

Weaknesses

Value drops sharply outside the AWS ecosystem. For teams on GCP, Azure, or multi-cloud setups, the AWS-specific features — which are the main differentiator — provide no benefit. The core coding assistance is competent but not strong enough to choose over Copilot or Cursor on its own merits.

IDE support is narrower than Copilot. VS Code, JetBrains, Cloud9, and CloudShell cover most developers, but Copilot also supports Neovim, Vim, Xcode, and Visual Studio. Developers on less common editors have fewer options.

Agentic mode is still maturing. While functional, the agentic capabilities are newer than those in Cursor’s Composer or Claude Code. Complex multi-step tasks occasionally require more guidance than competing agents.

Who It’s For

Amazon Q Developer fits well for:

• Development teams building on AWS infrastructure
• Enterprise organizations with existing AWS contracts and IAM governance
• Teams needing to migrate legacy Java or .NET codebases to modern versions
• Individual developers who want a capable free AI coding assistant

Amazon Q Developer is a harder sell for:

• Teams not using AWS (the key differentiators become irrelevant)
• Developers who need broad IDE support beyond VS Code and JetBrains
• Terminal-first developers who prefer autonomous CLI agents like Claude Code or Aider
• Teams that need the most mature agentic editing (Cursor or Claude Code are stronger today)

Sources

• Amazon Q Developer
• Amazon Q Developer Pricing
• Amazon Q Developer Documentation