Amazon Q - AI Tools Nav

What it is for

Amazon Q is AWS’s generative assistant for developers and employees: Q Developer lives in the IDE and CLI; Q Business answers from company data with the same IAM permissions. Use it when the job is code or internal Q&A inside AWS identity, not when you want a model-picker IDE.

It is not open source. Q Developer Free exists (50 agentic requests / month). Q Developer Pro is $19/user/month. Q Business Lite is $3/user/month; Pro is $20.

What makes it unique: the cover is Amazon Q Developer’s official IDE still — Chat tab, @ja file picker over Q-Words/src/main/java, composer with the Responsible AI footer.

Key features

@ folder and file context — attach a path so the chat sees the files you mean (cover; new context features).
Agentic coding in the IDE and CLI — ask Q to plan and edit; each turn is an “agentic request” (Q Developer pricing).
Inline completions — suggestions in the editor; using them can activate a Pro subscription (Q Developer pricing FAQ).
Java / .NET transformation — submit a buildable unit; Free includes 1,000 LOC / month, Pro 4,000 LOC / user pooled at the payer account (Q Developer pricing).
Console Q&A and error diagnose — ask about AWS pages and common console errors without leaving the account (Q Developer pricing).
Permission-aware business answers — Q Business answers only from data the signed-in user can already see (Q Business pricing; Amazon Q).

Who it's for

Best fit: teams already on IAM Identity Center who want the assistant bound to AWS permissions.

Poor fit: developers who want a local, model-picker IDE and no AWS account (Cursor).

Pricing

Verified 2026-10-22 (Asia/Shanghai) from Q Developer pricing and Q Business pricing. Two products, two bills. Re-check the account you will actually subscribe.

Amazon Q Developer

Free — $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.
Pro — $19/user/month. Higher agentic limits. 4,000 LOC / user / month for Java upgrades, pooled at the payer account; extra LOC $0.003 each. Admin dashboard (Identity Center path). IP indemnity. Data collection automatically opted out.

Signing in does not start Pro. Activation is the first agentic plan, transformation, or completion.

Amazon Q Business (examples on the official page print the dollars)

Lite — $3/user/month. Permission-aware chat (~1 page answers), file insights, browser extension.
Pro — $20/user/month. Longer answers (~7 pages), Q Apps, QuickSight Reader Pro, plugins, Slack / Outlook / Teams.
Index — Starter $0.140/hour per unit; Enterprise $0.264/hour per unit (20K docs or 200 MB text per unit). Charged once the index exists.
Anonymous embed — $200 per 30,000 units / month (2 units per ChatSync / prompt).
Free trial — 60 days, up to 50 Lite/Pro users per application + 1,500 index hours.

Quick Suite is listed as the next evolution of Q Business; existing Q Business customers can stay.

Limitations / costs

Q Developer Free is 50 agentic requests. Chat + agentic coding share that cap.
Transformation overage is $0.003/LOC after the pooled 4,000.
Q Business index bills even if empty until you delete it.
Not a local model. Prompts go to AWS. Builder ID Pro does not get the org admin dashboard.

Alternatives

GitHub Copilot — IDE completions and chat if you are on GitHub, not IAM Identity Center.
Cursor — local-first agent IDE with a model picker.
Windsurf — agentic editor if you do not want an AWS seat.

Official tutorial

Official AWS Developers channel video: Using Amazon Q Developer to Write Code for Observability (oEmbed author: AWS Developers).

Written path: Q Developer pricing plus Amazon Q.

Website

https://aws.amazon.com/q/

Source

Catalog row curated for AI Tools Nav. Cover is Q Developer’s official @ file-picker chat still. Developer Free 50 requests; Pro $19/user/mo. Business Lite $3; Pro $20. Tutorial: Write Code for Observability on @awsdevelopers (oEmbed).

Last verified

2026-10-22 (Asia/Shanghai) editorial check.