Pick Amazon Q if
teams already on IAM Identity Center who want the assistant bound to AWS permissions.
Read the Amazon Q pageAmazon Q vs Windsurf
Our take
Pick Amazon Q if teams already on IAM Identity Center who want the assistant bound to AWS permissions. Pick Windsurf if software engineers who want an agent in a VS Code-like desktop and will accept Cognition’s routing. Skip Amazon Q if developers who want a local, model-picker IDE and no AWS account (Cursor). Skip Windsurf if non-developers, or teams that cannot send code to a third-party model API.
Best for
Amazon Q Code or internal Q&A inside AWS identity
Windsurf Changing a repo in an editor
Free plan
Amazon Q $0 · 50 agentic requests / month (IDE + CLI). 1,000 LOC / month Java upgrades. IAM user or Builder ID. No IP indemnity. Console Q&A and error diagnose included
Windsurf $0 · limited quota
Lowest paid
Amazon Q Lite $3/user/mo
Windsurf Pro $20/mo
Next step up
Amazon Q Pro $19/user/mo
Windsurf Max from $200/mo
Coding agent
Amazon Q Completions and chat in your IDE
Windsurf Devin Local
Runs where
Amazon Q Hosted
Windsurf
Watch out
Amazon Q Q Developer Free is 50 agentic requests
Windsurf The name moved
Last checked
Amazon Q 2026-10-22 · aws.amazon.com/q/developer/pricing
Windsurf 2026-10-19 · windsurf.com/pricing
Which one, then?
Pick Windsurf if
software engineers who want an agent in a VS Code-like desktop and will accept Cognition’s routing.
Read the Windsurf page