Amazon Q Developer Is Now the AWS Assistant: What Changes, End-of-Support Dates and Kiro Pricing
Amazon Q Developer in the AWS console is now the AWS assistant. It's free; IDE plugins still end April 30, 2027. Timeline, who must act, Kiro prices.
Amazon Q Developer inside the AWS Management Console has a new name: it is now called the AWS assistant. AWS announced the change on November 5, 2026. AWS says it is still free, still account-aware, and existing Q Developer Pro subscribers keep their Pro features automatically. The rename does not cancel the separate Q Developer IDE plugin shutdown, though: those plugins and paid subscriptions still reach end of support on April 30, 2027, and AWS points coders to Kiro instead.
If you only ever clicked the chat icon in the console, very little changes for you. If your team writes code with Q Developer in VS Code, JetBrains, Eclipse or Visual Studio, you still have a migration deadline. This guide separates the two.
What is the AWS assistant?
The AWS assistant is the AI chat panel built into the AWS Management Console and the AWS Console Mobile App. Until this week it was labelled Amazon Q Developer. AWS's What's New post says the new name is meant to make the product's purpose clearer, and that it provides "the same" personalized, account-aware guidance and actions as before.
On its product page, AWS lists what the assistant does:
| Capability (AWS's wording) | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Learn about your AWS resources | Ask about configurations and how resources relate, without jumping between consoles, docs and CLI |
| Understand cloud costs | Pulls from AWS Cost Explorer to show top cost drivers and month-over-month changes |
| Troubleshoot in console | A "Diagnose with AWS assistant" button on common errors such as permissions, configuration and service limits |
| Investigate operational incidents | Investigation insights and runbook suggestions |
| Analyze network security configurations (preview) | Flags missing or misconfigured network security services and suggests fixes |
AWS's example prompts include "What was my bill last month?" and "Why is my Lambda function running slow?" The page says you can start a conversation "at no additional cost."
What actually changed on November 5, 2026?
Short answer: the name in the console. Here is what AWS has and has not said.
| Question | Answer | Source |
|---|---|---|
| New name | AWS assistant | AWS What's New, Nov 5, 2026 |
| Where the rename applies | AWS Management Console and Console Mobile Apps | AWS What's New |
| Price | Free ("at no additional cost") | AWS product page |
| Existing Q Developer Pro subscribers | Keep Pro Tier capabilities automatically | AWS What's New |
| Availability | Global | AWS What's New |
| IDE plugins (VS Code, JetBrains, Eclipse, Visual Studio) | Still reach end of support April 30, 2027 | AWS docs and DevOps blog |
| Do IAM policy actions or API names change? | Not stated by AWS in the announcement | We could not verify either way |
| Does the Slack/Microsoft Teams integration get renamed too? | Not stated in the announcement | We could not verify either way |
Two caveats from our own reading. First, the older Q Developer pricing page still showed Q Developer branding, Free ($0) and Pro ($19 per user per month) tiers when we checked on November 8, so expect some pages and docs to lag behind the new name. Second, AWS's announcement doesn't mention permissions. If you manage IAM policies that allow or deny Amazon Q in the console, don't rewrite them based on the new name alone; wait for AWS documentation that says the action names changed.
Is Amazon Q Developer being discontinued?
Partly, and this is where most of the confusion comes from. On April 30, 2026, AWS published an end-of-support announcement on its DevOps blog. AWS's user guide puts it plainly: "On April 30, 2027, AWS will discontinue support for Amazon Q Developer IDE plugins."
What the blog post says is affected:
- The Q Developer IDE plugins for VS Code, JetBrains, Eclipse and Visual Studio. They stay listed on the marketplaces with a deprecation notice pointing to Kiro, and AWS says critical bug fixes continue for existing users during the transition.
- Paid Q Developer subscriptions. Existing Pro subscriptions can still add users, but new subscriptions were blocked from May 15, 2026.
- Code transformation (Java upgrades and .NET porting) delivered through the IDE plugins, which ends after April 30, 2027. AWS recommends finishing in-progress transformations before then.
What AWS says is not affected: Q Developer in the AWS Management Console and "first-party AWS experiences," which the blog lists as the AWS marketing website, the AWS documentation website, the AWS Console Mobile App, and Q Developer for chat apps (Slack and Microsoft Teams). That is the part that has now been renamed the AWS assistant in the console and mobile app.
So "Amazon Q Developer end of life" is true for the coding plugins and paid subscriptions, and false for the console chat.
Amazon Q Developer timeline: every date that matters
| Date | What happened / happens | Source |
|---|---|---|
| April 30, 2024 | Amazon CodeWhisperer becomes part of Amazon Q Developer | AWS docs |
| February 26, 2025 | AWS Chatbot renamed Amazon Q Developer (in chat applications) | AWS What's New |
| April 30, 2026 | AWS announces end of support for Q Developer IDE plugins and paid subscriptions | AWS DevOps blog |
| May 15, 2026 | New Q Developer Free Tier accounts (via Builder ID in IDE plugins) and new subscriptions blocked | AWS DevOps blog |
| May 29, 2026 | Opus 4.6 removed from Q Developer Pro; Opus 4.5 and other models remain | AWS DevOps blog |
| November 5, 2026 | Q Developer in the console and Console Mobile Apps renamed AWS assistant | AWS What's New |
| April 30, 2027 | IDE plugins and paid subscriptions reach end of support | AWS docs and DevOps blog |
Counting from today (November 8, 2026), that leaves just under six months before the IDE plugin cutoff.
Who needs to do something? A decision table
| How you use Amazon Q today | Do you need to act? | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Only the chat icon in the AWS console | No | Look for the "AWS assistant" label; same features, still free |
| AWS Console Mobile App chat | No | Same as above |
| "Diagnose with Amazon Q" on console errors | No | The button is now labelled "Diagnose with AWS assistant" on AWS's product page |
| Q Developer in Slack or Microsoft Teams | Not according to AWS's end-of-support post | Watch for naming changes; AWS hasn't said |
| Q Developer Free in an IDE | Yes, before April 30, 2027 | Try Kiro or another coding tool |
| Q Developer Pro seats for a team | Yes | Plan the move, then cancel Pro so you don't pay for two tools |
| Java/.NET transformations in the IDE | Yes, soon | Finish them before April 30, 2027, or look at AWS Transform |
| CI pipelines or scripts that call the Q Developer CLI | Check | AWS's blog post doesn't specifically address the CLI; test your pipelines now |
How much does Kiro cost compared with Q Developer Pro?
Kiro is the agentic coding IDE and CLI that AWS names as the replacement for the Q Developer IDE plugins. It needs its own subscription. Here's how the published prices compare (USD, before tax):
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon Q Developer Free | $0 | 50 agentic requests/month in IDE and CLI; 1,000 lines/month of Java and .NET transformation |
| Amazon Q Developer Pro | $19/user/month | Higher limits (AWS doesn't publish an exact request number), admin dashboard, IP indemnity; closed to new subscriptions since May 15, 2026 |
| Kiro Free | $0 | 50 credits/month |
| Kiro Pro | $20/user/month | 1,000 credits/month |
| Kiro Pro+ | $40/user/month | 2,000 credits/month |
| Kiro Pro Max | $100/user/month | 5,000 credits/month |
| Kiro Power | $200/user/month | 10,000 credits/month |
| Kiro Teams | $20/seat/month | 500 credits per seat, pooled |
Extra Kiro credits cost $0.04 each on the paid plans, according to Kiro's pricing page. Kiro also says a first upgrade from Free to Pro includes the rest of that month free plus 500 trial credits, and that AWS GovCloud (US) pricing is about 20% higher. Credits and "agentic requests" aren't the same unit, so you can't compare the two tools one-to-one. Look at your team's actual Q Developer usage before picking a Kiro plan.
How to migrate from Amazon Q Developer to Kiro
AWS's blog post gives four steps. We've added notes in plain language:
- Download Kiro from kiro.dev and try it on one real project. AWS highlights Kiro's "specs" (structured requirements that drive the code), hooks, steering files, custom subagents and "powers."
- Read the migration guide for your IDE. AWS's user guide links to Kiro's Migrating from Amazon Q Developer page. AWS says inline suggestions, chat and code generation are all available in Kiro.
- Talk to your AWS account team if you're on an enterprise agreement, especially about billing overlap.
- Finish in-progress code transformations before April 30, 2027.
One practical addition: list every place your team uses Q Developer (IDEs, scripts, CI jobs) before you cancel anything. Third-party migration guides warn that automations depending on Q Developer will break at the cutoff. That's their warning, not AWS's wording, but it's an easy check to run.
What are developers asking?
We searched Reddit's r/aws and developer forums for reactions to the November 5 rename and didn't find a substantial public thread yet, so we're not quoting anyone.
Google's search suggestions show what people are typing right now: "amazon q developer end of life," "amazon q developer vs kiro," "amazon q developer pricing," "amazon q developer vs claude code" and "kiro pricing." The FAQ below covers those.
Editor's take
This is a sensible rename that arrives about a year late. Since April, "Amazon Q Developer" has meant two things with two different futures: a free console helper AWS is keeping, and a paid coding plugin AWS is retiring. Calling the first one the AWS assistant removes that ambiguity for most users, who never install an IDE plugin.
The risk is for teams that skim headlines. "Q Developer renamed" can sound like "Q Developer continues," and it doesn't for coding. If your developers rely on the IDE plugins, the useful action this week is to put April 30, 2027 in the calendar, check who holds Pro seats, and run a Kiro pilot before budgets for 2027 lock. For context on how AWS is reshaping its own engineering around AI tools, see our explainer on Amazon's AI software engineering guideline. For other agent tooling AWS shipped recently, see Step Functions as AgentCore Gateway tools and our DynamoDB bulk put items explainer. Kiro and the AWS assistant will likely feature at re:Invent 2026.
FAQ
What is the AWS assistant?
It's the new name, since November 5, 2026, for Amazon Q Developer in the AWS Management Console and Console Mobile Apps. It answers questions about your resources and costs, diagnoses console errors, and helps with operational incidents.
Is the AWS assistant free?
Yes. AWS's product page says you can use it "at no additional cost," and the announcement describes it as currently free.
Is Amazon Q Developer end of life?
The IDE plugins and paid subscriptions are. They reach end of support on April 30, 2027. The console experience isn't being retired. It was renamed the AWS assistant.
What happens to my Amazon Q Developer Pro subscription?
AWS says existing Pro subscribers keep Pro Tier capabilities automatically in the AWS assistant. Paid Q Developer subscriptions still reach end of support on April 30, 2027, and new subscriptions have been blocked since May 15, 2026.
Amazon Q Developer vs Kiro: what's the difference?
Q Developer was an AI assistant that plugged into existing IDEs. Kiro is AWS's own agentic IDE and CLI built around spec-driven development, with hooks, steering files and subagents. AWS names Kiro as the replacement for the Q Developer IDE plugins.
How much does Kiro cost?
Kiro Free is $0 with 50 credits a month. Paid plans are Pro $20, Pro+ $40, Pro Max $100 and Power $200 per user per month, plus Teams at $20 per seat. Extra credits cost $0.04 each.
Does the Amazon Q Developer CLI stop working?
AWS's end-of-support blog post doesn't specifically address the CLI. Check your CLI-based automations against AWS's documentation and Kiro's migration guide before April 30, 2027.
Is Amazon Q Developer in Slack and Teams affected?
AWS's end-of-support post lists Q Developer for chat apps (Slack and Microsoft Teams) among the experiences that are not affected. The November 5 rename announcement only mentions the console and Console Mobile Apps.
Sources
- AWS What's New: Amazon Q Developer in console is now the AWS assistant (Nov 5, 2026): https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2026/11/q-developer-renamed-aws-assistant/
- AWS assistant product page: https://aws.amazon.com/products/assistant/
- AWS DevOps Blog, Amazon Q Developer end-of-support announcement (Apr 30, 2026): https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/devops/amazon-q-developer-end-of-support-announcement/
- AWS docs, Amazon Q Developer IDE plugins end of support: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazonq/latest/qdeveloper-ug/q-developer-ide-end-of-support.html
- AWS docs, Amazon Q Developer rename summary (CodeWhisperer): https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazonq/latest/qdeveloper-ug/service-rename.html
- AWS What's New, AWS Chatbot is now named Amazon Q Developer (Feb 2025): https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2025/02/aws-chatbot-named-amazon-q-developer/
- Amazon Q Developer pricing: https://aws.amazon.com/q/developer/pricing/
- Kiro pricing: https://kiro.dev/pricing/
Featured image: An AWS data center technician at work (Amazon press photo; it does not show the AWS assistant itself). Source