AI Tool Comparison
Amazon Q Developer vs Windsurf
A side-by-side breakdown to help you pick the right tool for your workflow.
Amazon Q Developer
An AWS coding assistant offering inline suggestions, chat, and agentic tasks across IDEs and the console. AWS is sunsetting Q Developer in favor of Kiro, new signups closed May 2026.
Windsurf
An agentic coding IDE pairing an editor with autonomous coding agents, renamed Devin Desktop after Cognition AI's acquisition, keeping the same editor and Claude/GPT/Gemini model choice.
Bottom Line
Last reviewed: August 2026
Amazon Q Developer and Windsurf both compete in Coding, overlapping most directly on coding. Windsurf carries the higher rating (4.7 vs 4.3), but a gap that size rarely overrides a real workflow fit on its own.
Choose Amazon Q Developer if…
Best for developers building cloud-native applications who need suggestions aware of AWS APIs and services, and its edge is deep awareness of S3, Lambda, DynamoDB, and IAM specifics that general coding assistants don't have. Genuinely useful for AWS-heavy projects, being retired with support ending April 2027, so plan a migration to Kiro.
Choose Windsurf if…
Best for developers who want an AI agent that actively works across multiple files, not just suggests the next line, and its edge is cascade operates as a persistent coding agent that plans steps, writes across files, and runs terminal commands. A genuinely capable autonomous agent, still newer software, expect occasional instability on complex tasks.
| Attribute | Amazon Q Developer | Windsurf |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Coding | Coding |
| Pricing | freemium | freemium |
| Pricing Detail | Being retired: support ends Apr 30, 2027, migrate to Kiro | Rebranded "Devin Desktop" (Cognition, Jun 2026); Free / $20/mo Pro / $80/mo + $40/seat Team / $200/mo Max |
| Rating |
Key Features
Amazon Q Developer
- Code generation
- Security vulnerability scanning
- AWS service integration
- IDE plugins
- Reference tracking
Windsurf
- Cascade AI agent
- Multi-step task execution
- Full codebase awareness
- Terminal integration
- VS Code based
Pros
Amazon Q Developer
- •Best for AWS-heavy projects
- •Built-in security scanner
- •Free for individual use
- •Tracks open-source references
Windsurf
- •Excellent autonomous coding agent
- •Tracks what it changed and why
- •Good free tier
- •Handles complex multi-file refactors
Cons
Amazon Q Developer
- Less impressive outside AWS ecosystem
- Not as capable as Cursor for complex tasks
- JetBrains support is limited
Windsurf
- Agent can go off-track on complex tasks
- Newer product with occasional instability
- Less plugin ecosystem than VS Code