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Amazon Q Developer vs Cursor

Two fact sheets from our own research, side by side — pricing, platforms, API access and status re-checked by us rather than quoted from the vendors.

The short answer

Entry price
Amazon Q Developer from $19/seat/mo, Cursor from $8/mo — different billing units, so no direct winner
Free plan
Both have one
Best fit
Amazon Q Developer: Teams building on AWS who want console, CLI and IDE help that understands their account · Cursor: Developers who want agents, cloud agents and code review inside one editor
Platforms
Amazon Q Developer: VS Code extension, Web, macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android · Cursor: macOS, Windows, Linux, Web
Trust score
About even — Amazon Q Developer 94, Cursor 98

From our own records as of each tool's last check. Anything we have not confirmed is left out rather than guessed. How we verify

Amazon Q DeveloperAWS's coding and operations assistant for IDEs, the terminal and the console, with its IDE plugins now on an end-of-support clock.CursorCode editor built around coding agents that work in the IDE, the terminal, the cloud and on pull requests

Side by side

FactAmazon Q DeveloperCursor
CategoryAI Coding AssistantsAI Code Editors & IDEs
Pricing modelFreemiumFreemium
Starts at$19/seat/mo$8/mo
Trust score94 / 10098 / 100
PlatformsVS Code extension, Web, macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, AndroidmacOS, Windows, Linux, Web
CompanyAmazon Web Services, Inc.Anysphere, Inc.
Launched20242023
Last verifiedSep 6, 2026Sep 29, 2026

What our research says

Amazon Q Developer

If your code runs on AWS, Q Developer is the assistant that knows the services, the console and your account, and the free tier is generous enough to use daily. But AWS has announced the end of support for its IDE plugins on 30 April 2027 and is steering developers to Kiro, so adopting Q Developer in the editor today means planning a migration within eighteen months. Use it for the CLI, console and the Java and .NET transformation jobs, which have no equivalent elsewhere, and start new editor workflows on whatever AWS says replaces it.

Pros

  • Free tier with 50 agentic requests and 1,000 lines of transformation a month, no card
  • Transformation agents for Java upgrades and .NET-to-Linux porting that general assistants lack
  • Present in IDEs, CLI, console, mobile console app, Slack, Teams, GitHub and GitLab
  • Pro at $19 per user adds admin dashboards, pooled transformation lines and IP indemnity

Cons

  • End-of-support notice for the IDE plugins dated 30 April 2027, with Kiro named as the successor
  • Agentic request limits on Free and Pro are stated loosely rather than as a number on Pro
  • Value drops sharply outside AWS-centric codebases
  • No public API found for the assistant itself

Cursor

Still the editor most teams reach for when they want agents working inside a real IDE, with cloud agents, PR review and a CLI under one login. Since the SpaceX purchase the price list has been rebuilt around a usage pool shared with Grok: the old $20 Pro plan is gone, the cheapest tier only runs Grok models, and anyone attached to Claude, GPT or Gemini now pays for those separately at API list price.

Pros

  • Agents work with repository-wide context in the editor, the terminal and the cloud
  • Model menu still spans in-house Composer plus Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and xAI models
  • Usage allowance refreshes weekly rather than monthly, so one heavy day does not drain the month
  • Free tier remains for trying agent workflows
  • SOC 2, ISO 27001 and ISO 42001 certifications listed for enterprise procurement

Cons

  • The $8 Plus tier is restricted to Grok models, so the realistic entry price for a multi-model workflow is $30
  • Third-party models are no longer included in any plan and bill at API list price on top
  • Pricing has been restructured twice within a year, which makes budgeting a guess
  • Ownership moved to SpaceX in 2026, so roadmap and data policies may shift again

Which one fits

Choose Amazon Q Developer if you need

  • Teams building on AWS who want console, CLI and IDE help that understands their account
  • Java 8 and 11 estates and Windows .NET workloads that need bulk upgrade or porting
  • Enterprises that need IAM Identity Center controls and IP indemnity on an assistant

Choose Cursor if you need

  • Developers who want agents, cloud agents and code review inside one editor
  • Teams standardising on a single vendor for editor, review and Slack-driven agents
  • Users already paying for Grok who want one usage pool to cover both

Amazon Q Developer vs Cursor: the questions people ask

Is Amazon Q Developer cheaper than Cursor?

They charge in different units, so there is no like-for-like answer: Amazon Q Developer starts at $19/seat/mo, Cursor at $8/mo. Entry price is the lowest paid plan as we last verified it.

Does Amazon Q Developer or Cursor have a free tier?

Both: Amazon Q Developer has a free tier, and Cursor has a free tier.

More comparisons

All Amazon Q Developer alternatives →All Cursor alternatives →Browse all AI Coding Assistants →