Direct answer
What is Amazon Q Developer?
Amazon Q Developer is an AI assistant from AWS that provides inline code completions, agentic coding, security vulnerability scanning, application transformation, and AWS cloud troubleshooting across IDEs, the command line, and chat platforms.
Amazon Q Developer is a generative AI assistant created by Amazon Web Services to assist software engineers across the development and operational lifecycles. It integrates directly into common integrated development environments (IDEs) including Visual Studio Code, JetBrains, Visual Studio, and Eclipse (preview), as well as terminal environments, chat applications, and the AWS Management Console. Within code editors, the tool provides real-time multiline suggestions, full-function completions, and inline conversational chat. Developers can securely connect the assistant to private repositories to contextualize answers and code generation to internal company codebases. Beyond autocompletion, its agentic capabilities can autonomously read and write files, generate code diffs, run shell commands, write unit tests, and generate documentation based on user guidance. For cloud engineering and infrastructure maintenance, the assistant is embedded into the AWS Management Console, CLI, Microsoft Teams, and Slack. Users can query cloud billing, analyze resource utilization, diagnose networking problems, investigate operational incidents, and translate natural language into bash commands. It also offers automated modernization agents capable of handling tasks such as upgrading legacy Java applications (from Java 8 to Java 17) and porting .NET applications from Windows to Linux. Note that AWS has announced an end-of-support notice for Amazon Q Developer IDE plugins effective April 30, 2027, advising users to explore Kiro for continued IDE capabilities.
Amazon Q Developer uniquely combines code generation with native AWS console intelligence, cloud cost analysis, automated modernization agents (like Java and .NET upgrades), and enterprise governance through AWS IAM Identity Center.
Product capabilities
Key features
Real-Time Code Suggestions and Chat
Generates real-time code recommendations from single snippets to full functions in the IDE, alongside an inline chat interface.
Agentic Coding Experience
Autonomously executes multi-step workflows by reading and writing files, creating code diffs, running shell commands, and authoring unit tests.
Application Transformation Agents
Automates complex code upgrades, such as upgrading Java 8 applications to Java 17 and porting .NET applications from Windows to Linux environments.
Vulnerability Scanning and Remediation
Scans codebases for security vulnerabilities across popular programming languages and generates immediate remediation suggestions.
AWS Operational Assistance
Provides guidance in the AWS Management Console, Slack, and Microsoft Teams to analyze billing, investigate incidents, and troubleshoot networking issues.
Command-Line and Private Code Integration
Offers terminal autocompletions and natural-language-to-bash translation, with the ability to connect securely to private repositories for internal codebase awareness.
Practical fit
Who should use Amazon Q Developer?
Accelerating Day-to-Day Software Development
Developers use the assistant in VS Code or JetBrains to write functions, scaffold tests, draft documentation, and receive inline suggestions.
Modernizing Legacy Enterprise Code
Engineering teams use transformation agents to perform automated migrations of legacy Java versions and re-platform .NET code to Linux.
Cloud Resource Operations and Cost Analysis
DevOps teams query the assistant in the AWS Console, Slack, or Teams to inspect resource configurations, review billing anomalies, and fix network issues.
Terminal Automation and Shell Scripting
Engineers use CLI integration to translate natural-language instructions into bash commands and get context-aware completions in local and SSH sessions.
Editorial assessment
Pros and limitations
Where it is strong
- Perpetual Free Tier provides 50 agentic chat interactions and 1,000 lines of transformation per month
- Deep native integration into AWS Console, CLI, AWS IAM Identity Center, Slack, and Microsoft Teams
- Includes automated application modernization agents for Java and .NET
- Security vulnerability scanning with automated remediation recommendations
- Pro tier ensures customer proprietary content is not used for service training
Where to be careful
- AWS announced that support for Amazon Q Developer IDE plugins will end on April 30, 2027
- Pricing details for the Pro tier are not documented on the main overview page
- Full feature set heavily favors teams already running workloads inside the AWS cloud
Commercial context
Amazon Q Developer pricing
At the review date, Amazon Web Services offers a perpetual Free Tier providing 50 agentic chat interactions and up to 1,000 lines of code transformations per month. A paid Amazon Q Developer Pro tier exists, but specific subscription fees are not published on the reviewed overview page. Verify current pricing and tiers on the official AWS pricing pages.
Pricing, limits, taxes, model access, and regional availability can change. Verify the purchase-critical details on the official pricing page linked under Sources.
Transparent ranking
Why Amazon Q Developer scores 74.3
Each factor is scored on a 100-point scale, then combined using the public ToolsRank weights. Engagement and momentum stay at a neutral baseline until measured signals exist, so no tool can gain or lose position from numbers nobody recorded.
Compatibility
Languages, platforms, and integrations
Languages
- English
Integrations & surfaces
- Visual Studio Code
- JetBrains
- Visual Studio
- Eclipse
- AWS Management Console
- AWS Console Mobile App
- GitLab Duo
- GitHub
- Slack
- Microsoft Teams
- AWS IAM Identity Center
Community
Reviews and questions
No approved member reviews yet. Editorial factors above are the only rating on this page.
Reviews and questions come from Google-signed members and are checked by an editor before they appear.
Frequently asked
Amazon Q Developer FAQ
What is included in the Amazon Q Developer Free Tier?+
The Amazon Q Developer perpetual Free Tier includes 50 agentic chat interactions per month and allows users to transform up to 1,000 lines of code per month across supported development environments.
What IDEs and editors does Amazon Q Developer support?+
Amazon Q Developer provides plugins or extensions for Visual Studio Code, JetBrains IDEs (including IntelliJ IDEA), Visual Studio, and Eclipse (preview), in addition to standalone command-line support.
When will Amazon Q Developer IDE plugins be discontinued?+
According to the official AWS end-of-support notice, AWS will discontinue support for Amazon Q Developer IDE plugins on April 30, 2027. AWS points users to explore Kiro for similar IDE capabilities.
Does Amazon use customer code to train its models?+
Under the Amazon Q Developer Pro plan, AWS explicitly states that your proprietary content is not used for service improvement.
What kind of code transformations can Amazon Q Developer perform?+
The assistant features agents capable of automating legacy modernization, specifically upgrading Java applications from Java 8 to Java 17 and porting .NET applications from Windows to Linux.
