Amazon Q Developer

Amazon Q Developer

Amazon Q Developer is AWS's assistant for software work, and it reaches further across the lifecycle than most coding tools. Amazon Q Developer writes code and tests, scans for vulnerabilities and suggests fixes, runs agentic tasks that read and write files and execute shell commands, and answers operational questions about your AWS account — architecture, resource review, even bill analysis. Its transformation agents handle the migrations nobody volunteers for, porting .NET from Windows to Linux and upgrading Java from 8 to 17.

Production credibility: AWS publishes two tiers: a free tier with 50 agentic requests a month and 1,000 lines of code a month for transformation, and Pro at $19 per user a month with higher limits, 4,000 lines of transformation pooled at the payer account, overage at $0.003 per line, an admin dashboard, IAM Identity Center support and IP indemnity. It runs in JetBrains, VS Code, Visual Studio, Eclipse in preview, the command line, the AWS console and its mobile app, GitLab Duo, Microsoft Teams, Slack and GitHub in preview. One thing to know before adopting it in an editor: AWS ends support for the Q Developer IDE plugins on 30 April 2027 and points developers to Kiro for agentic coding, chat and MCP support. The assistant continues in its other surfaces.

Key Features

• Inline code suggestions, chat and natural-language-to-bash in the CLI
• Agentic coding that reads and writes files, generates diffs and runs commands
• Unit test generation, optimisation and vulnerability scanning with fixes
• Transformation agents for .NET Windows-to-Linux and Java 8-to-17 upgrades
• AWS operations help, including architecture and bill analysis in the console
• Free tier plus Pro at $19 per user a month

Ideal Use Case

Teams deep in AWS who want one assistant across the editor, the console and the migration backlog, and especially anyone with a Java or .NET upgrade sitting untouched — the transformation agents are the part with no real equivalent elsewhere. Given the 2027 plugin end-of-support, new IDE-centric adoption should probably start with Kiro instead.

How Amazon Q Developer differentiates

Copilot and Cursor are better in the editor. Q Developer's distinct ground is everything around it: AWS account knowledge, console and mobile access, GitLab and Teams surfaces, and the transformation agents. The sunset of the IDE plugins makes the division of labour explicit — AWS is steering editor work to Kiro and keeping Q Developer for the platform-adjacent jobs. Priced per user at $19, it is also the cheapest paid assistant in this comparison set.

FAQ

Q: What is Amazon Q Developer? A: AWS's generative AI assistant for software development. It covers code suggestions, agentic coding, test generation, vulnerability scanning, code transformation and AWS operational questions.

Q: How much does Amazon Q Developer cost? A: There is a free tier with 50 agentic requests a month and 1,000 lines of transformation. Pro is $19 per user a month with higher limits and 4,000 pooled lines, with overage at $0.003 per line.

Q: Are the IDE plugins being discontinued? A: Yes. AWS ends support for the Amazon Q Developer IDE plugins on 30 April 2027 and recommends Kiro for similar agentic coding, chat and MCP capabilities. Other surfaces continue.

Q: Where does Amazon Q Developer run? A: JetBrains, VS Code, Visual Studio, Eclipse in preview, the CLI, the AWS console and mobile app, GitLab Duo, Microsoft Teams, Slack and GitHub in preview.

Q: What do the transformation agents do? A: They automate migrations: porting .NET applications from Windows to Linux, and upgrading Java codebases, with AWS citing Java 8 to 17.

tl;dr

Amazon Q Developer is AWS's coding assistant across the IDE, CLI, console, GitLab and Teams, with agentic coding and .NET and Java transformation agents. Free tier plus $19 per user. Note that the IDE plugins lose support on 30 April 2027, with AWS pointing to Kiro.