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Amazon Q Developer

source available / Overall score: 3.7

Amazon Q Developer is an AWS coding assistant with an agent mode that implements features, fixes bugs, writes tests and transforms code across a codebase. It is delivered as a managed service through IDE plugins, a command-line client and the AWS console, with a free tier and a paid Pro tier.

Openness

2 high confidence

2.0

source: partial(the Amazon Q Developer CLI is public and receives only critical security fixes
license: proprietary(AWS managed service)+MIT(Amazon Q Developer CLI, dual-licensed with Apache-2.0)
self-host: no

Amazon Q Developer is an AWS managed service delivered through IDE plugins and the console, with no source or self-hosted build for the service. Its command-line client is published under MIT and Apache-2.0, but AWS now gives it only critical security fixes and points users to the closed-source Kiro CLI. An open client in front of a closed service makes the product source-available rather than closed.

https://aws.amazon.com/q/developer/ recorded 2026-10-08
AWS product page: "Amazon Q Developer is available for use in your code editor. Download a plugin or extension below" and a paid tier beside the "Amazon Q Developer Free Tier"; no source and no self-host path for the service.
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aws/amazon-q-developer-cli/main/LICENSE.MIT recorded 2026-10-08
The CLI's MIT license: "MIT License" and "Copyright (c) 2024 Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates."
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/aws/amazon-q-developer-cli/main/README.md recorded 2026-10-08
CLI README: "This open source project is no longer being actively maintained and will only receive critical security fixes." It names "Kiro CLI" as "a closed-source product", and says "This repo is dual licensed under MIT and Apache 2.0 licenses."

Adoption

3 low confidence

3.0

Distributed across AWS's large developer base via IDEs/CLI/Console with free + Pro tiers and enterprise case studies, but AWS discloses no hard Q Developer user count. Placed at 3 on reported traction.

https://aws.amazon.com/q/developer/ recorded 2026-09-29
The AWS product page describes "Amazon Q Developer perpetual Free Tier gives you 50 agentic chat interactions per month" and publishes no user or seat count (searched the body for million, seats and installs: none).

Capability

4 medium confidence

4.0

AWS claims the highest scores on the SWE-Bench Leaderboard and Leaderboard Lite but publishes no number behind the claim, and no independent SWE-bench Verified figure exists for Q Developer. So the score is set from feature breadth instead, strong agentic coverage across implement, document, test, review and refactor, one step below OpenHands, which has a verified benchmark result.

https://aws.amazon.com/q/developer/ recorded 2026-09-29
The AWS product page states the vendor claim "Amazon Q Developer agentic capabilities have achieved the highest scores on the SWE-Bench Leaderboard and Leaderboard Lite" with no figure attached.

Verified 2026-09-29