Amazon Q: what it is in 2026, and what replaced parts of it.
Amazon Q is AWS's brand for AI assistants. It covers two products: Q Developer, a coding assistant, and Q Business, an assistant that answers questions over company data. Both changed in 2026. AWS no longer offers Q Business to new customers and calls Amazon Quick its next evolution. AWS will end support for the Q Developer IDE plugins on April 30, 2027 and points IDE users to Kiro. This guide covers both products, pricing, and what to use now.
- Amazon Q is two products. Q Developer is an AI coding assistant in the IDE, the command line and the AWS console. Q Business answers employee questions over company data (SharePoint, Salesforce, S3, Confluence and more) with citations, and respects each user's permissions.
- Status in October 2026: AWS says Q Business is no longer available to new customers and that Amazon Quick is its next evolution; existing customers can keep using Q Business or use their Q index with Quick. AWS will end support for the Q Developer IDE plugins on April 30, 2027 and points IDE users to Kiro. QuickSight is now Amazon Quick Sight, part of Amazon Quick.
- Pricing on AWS's pages today: Q Developer Free (50 agentic requests a month) or Pro at $19 per user per month. Q Business Lite at $3 and Pro at $20 per user per month, plus index capacity. Q runs on Amazon Bedrock, so your data stays in your AWS account and is not used to train the base models.
IWhat changed in 2026: Amazon Quick and Kiro
If you are choosing an assistant now, start here. Two of the three Amazon Q surfaces have a successor.
- Q Business is closed to new customers: AWS says Amazon Q Business is no longer available to new customers. It calls Amazon Quick the next evolution of Q Business: an AI assistant for work with agents for research, business insights and automation, connected to company apps and data. Existing Q Business customers can keep using it, or use their existing Q index with Quick.
- Q Developer IDE plugins end on April 30, 2027: AWS will discontinue support for the Amazon Q Developer IDE plugins on April 30, 2027. For similar features (agentic coding, chat and MCP support) AWS points to Kiro. Q Developer in the AWS console is not named in that notice.
- QuickSight is now Amazon Quick Sight: The old QuickSight URL now opens Amazon Quick Sight, the BI part of Amazon Quick. AWS says Quick Sight lets you explore data conversationally, the job Q in QuickSight used to do.
New coding-assistant rollout: trial Kiro alongside Q Developer. New company-data assistant: look at Amazon Quick, or a custom assistant built on Amazon Bedrock with Knowledge Bases. Already on Q Business: it keeps working, and your Q index can be used with Quick.
IIQ Developer vs Q Business
The two products share a brand and the Bedrock data posture, and almost nothing else.
Amazon Q Developer: the AI coding assistant
Buyer: engineering leaders and developers. Where it runs: IDE plugins (VS Code, JetBrains, Visual Studio, Eclipse), the command line, and the AWS Management Console, plus Microsoft Teams and Slack for AWS questions.
What it does: code suggestions and chat, agents that implement, document, test, review and refactor code, Java upgrades and .NET porting from Windows to Linux, and help in the console with costs, architecture, incidents and networking.
Amazon Q Business: the company-data assistant
Buyer: CIOs, IT and knowledge-management teams. Where it runs: a web app, browser extensions, Slack, Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365 apps.
What it does: connects to company content, indexes it and answers questions with citations, only from documents the asking user may already see. Q Apps lets employees build small no-code apps on that data. New customers now go to Amazon Quick instead.
| Dimension | Q Developer | Q Business |
|---|---|---|
| Primary job | Write, fix, test and upgrade code | Answer questions over company data |
| Buyer | Engineering teams | CIO, IT, knowledge management |
| Surfaces | IDE, CLI, AWS console, Teams and Slack | Web app, browser extensions, Slack, Teams, Microsoft 365 |
| Pricing | Free; Pro $19 per user per month | Lite $3, Pro $20 per user per month, plus index |
| 2026 status | IDE plugins end April 30, 2027 (see Kiro) | Closed to new customers (see Amazon Quick) |
| Closest alternatives | GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Kiro | Microsoft 365 Copilot, Glean, Amazon Quick |
IIIHow Amazon Q works
Both products are layers over Amazon Bedrock plus AWS identity and data services. That explains the security story and the pricing.
Models through Bedrock. Q calls foundation models on Amazon Bedrock and picks them for you; you choose a product and a tier, not a model. AWS's Q Developer pricing page lists access to the latest Claude models on the Free tier.
Identity through IAM Identity Center. Q Business and organization-level Q Developer Pro sign users in through IAM Identity Center, which connects to Okta, Microsoft Entra ID and other identity providers. That is how Q Business enforces per-user document permissions.
Retrieval for Q Business. Q Business ingests documents into a managed index, retrieves the relevant passages at question time and answers with citations. To build the same pattern yourself, see Bedrock Knowledge Bases and RAG on AWS.
IVWhere Amazon Q shows up
Beyond the two licensed products, "Q" appears as a capability inside other AWS services.
- IDEs (Q Developer): VS Code, JetBrains, Visual Studio and Eclipse plugins. Support ends April 30, 2027.
- Command line (Q Developer): A CLI agent that completes commands, explains errors and turns plain language into shell commands.
- AWS Management Console (Q Developer): An assistant that answers AWS questions and helps diagnose errors, costs and networking issues.
- Amazon Quick Sight (formerly QuickSight): BI with natural-language questions over your data and dashboards, now part of Amazon Quick. This is where Q in QuickSight lived.
- Amazon Connect (Q in Connect): Suggested answers for contact-center agents during calls and chats.
- Q Business web app and extensions: The Q Business surface for existing customers: web app, browser extensions, Slack and Teams.
VAmazon Q pricing
Both products are priced per user per month. Figures are from AWS's pricing pages, checked October 10, 2026.
Q Developer has a Free tier (50 agentic requests a month in the IDE and CLI, and 1,000 lines of code a month for Java upgrades) and a Pro tier at $19 per user per month with higher limits, admin controls through IAM Identity Center and IP indemnity. Pro includes 4,000 lines of code per user per month for transformations, pooled across the account; extra lines cost $0.003 each.
Q Business has Lite at $3 and Pro at $20 per user per month. You also pay for the index that stores your data: Starter Index at $0.140 per unit-hour and Enterprise Index at $0.264 per unit-hour. The index is the line item teams most often forget. Remember that new customers can no longer sign up.
| Product | Tier | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q Developer | Free | $0 | 50 agentic requests a month; 1,000 lines of code for Java upgrades |
| Q Developer | Pro | $19 per user per month | Higher limits, admin dashboard, IP indemnity, 4,000 pooled lines per user |
| Q Business | Lite | $3 per user per month | Ask questions, permission-aware answers |
| Q Business | Pro | $20 per user per month | Full features, including Q Apps |
| Q Business | Index | $0.140 or $0.264 per unit-hour | Starter or Enterprise index capacity |
VIAmazon Q vs GitHub Copilot, Microsoft 365 Copilot and ChatGPT Enterprise
Q competes in two markets at once.
Coding: Q Developer vs GitHub Copilot and Cursor. Q Developer's edge is AWS awareness, managed Java and .NET upgrades, and its place in the AWS console. Copilot has the broadest IDE ecosystem and model choice; Cursor is an AI-first editor. With the IDE plugins ending in April 2027, include Kiro in any new trial. See Amazon Q vs GitHub Copilot.
Company knowledge: Q Business vs Microsoft 365 Copilot, Glean and ChatGPT Enterprise. Microsoft 365 Copilot fits companies built on Microsoft 365. Q Business fit companies whose data and security sit in AWS. For new buyers, the AWS option is now Amazon Quick or a custom Bedrock assistant.
The honest summary: Amazon Q rarely wins on raw model quality. It wins on governance, when "it runs in our AWS account, under our IAM, in our Region" matters most.
VIISecurity and data handling
For many buyers this is the decision. Q inherits Bedrock's data posture and AWS identity controls.
- Your data does not train base models: Content you send to Amazon Q is not used to train the underlying foundation models. Q Developer Pro users are opted out of data collection automatically.
- Per-user permissions (Q Business): Answers come only from documents the user can already read.
- Identity through IAM Identity Center: Sign-in connects to your existing identity provider.
- Region and logging: Q runs in specific AWS Regions, and activity can be reviewed with AWS logging.
- Compliance: Check AWS's compliance pages for the specific Q product and Region before you rely on HIPAA, SOC or ISO eligibility.
VIIIGetting started, and who files which AWS funding
What to do now depends on which product you need.
- For coding: Install the Q Developer plugin or CLI and sign in with a free Builder ID to use the Free tier. For a team, set up Pro through IAM Identity Center. Because the IDE plugins end on April 30, 2027, trial Kiro in parallel.
- For a company-data assistant: New customers cannot start on Q Business. Look at Amazon Quick, or build a custom assistant on Amazon Bedrock: Knowledge Bases for retrieval, IAM Identity Center for sign-in and Guardrails for safety. Start with one or two high-value sources and a pilot group.
Partner-filed funding (the bigger route for most startups). A vetted AWS consulting partner can file proof of concept (POC) funding to test an assistant on AWS, or incremental workload (IW) funding if you already run on AWS and are launching new work. For startups this is often $50K to $150K. Depends on the workload; AWS approves. The partner files it, not you.
AWS Activate credits (you apply yourself). Activate Founders is $1,000 to start, up to $5,000; you apply on the AWS site. Activate Portfolio is up to $200,000 with the Org ID from a VC, accelerator or angel group that is an Activate Provider. A consulting partner cannot file Activate for you.
CloudRoute matches you with one vetted AWS partner who can build the assistant (connectors, identity, permissions, guardrails) and file the partner funding when the work qualifies. Startups pay CloudRoute nothing. Partners pay CloudRoute a monthly membership plus 10% of AWS-approved funding.
| Funding | Who files it | Amount | When it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Migration Acceleration Program (MAP) | Your matched AWS partner | $50K to $150K for startups. Depends on the workload; AWS approves. | You are not on AWS yet and want to migrate. |
| Proof of concept (POC) funding | Your matched AWS partner | $50K to $150K for startups. Depends on the workload; AWS approves. | You want to test something, whether or not you are on AWS today. |
| Incremental workload (IW) funding | Your matched AWS partner | $50K to $150K for startups. Depends on the workload; AWS approves. | You are already on AWS and are launching new work: a new AI feature, a new customer or a new contract. |
| AWS Activate Founders | Founder applies | $1,000 to start, up to $5,000 | Self-funded startups with no investor or accelerator behind them. |
| AWS Activate Portfolio | Founder applies | up to $200,000 | Startups backed by a VC firm, accelerator or angel investor that is an AWS Activate Provider. |
Amazon Q vs the alternatives, at a glance
One view across both markets Amazon Q plays in, with the 2026 status changes.
| Product | Category | Best when | Pricing | 2026 status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Q Developer | AI coding assistant | AWS-heavy stack; managed upgrades | Free; Pro $19 per user per month | IDE plugins end April 30, 2027 |
| Kiro | Agentic coding tool | New AWS coding-assistant rollouts | See AWS | Where AWS points Q Developer IDE users |
| Amazon Q Business | Company-data assistant | Existing customers | Lite $3, Pro $20, plus index | Closed to new customers |
| Amazon Quick | AI assistant for work | New AWS company-data assistant | See AWS | Next evolution of Q Business |
| GitHub Copilot | AI coding assistant | GitHub-centric teams | Per seat | Active |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot | Company assistant | Standardized on Microsoft 365 | Per seat | Active |
How a match works (example)
- You tell us about the work
You fill in a short form: what you run today, what you want to move, test or build, your stage and your region.
- We pick one partner
We read your answers and pick one vetted AWS consulting partner that fits the work, the stack and the region. We reply within 24 hours; your matched partner reaches out within 5 business days.
- The partner checks POC funding
Your matched partner scopes the test with you. Then it checks whether the test qualifies for POC (proof of concept) funding. A POC can fit whether or not you run on AWS today.
- The partner files, AWS decides
If the work qualifies, the partner files the funding request with AWS. AWS reviews it and decides. The amount depends on the workload.
- You pay nothing
CloudRoute is free for startups. Partners pay CloudRoute a monthly membership plus 10% of AWS-approved funding.
AWS Activate credits are separate, and you apply for them yourself. Use Activate Founders if no investor backs you. Use Activate Portfolio with the Org ID or invite from your VC, accelerator, incubator or angel group if it is an Activate Provider. A consulting partner cannot apply for Activate on your behalf.
Common questions
What is Amazon Q?
Is Amazon Q Business still available?
Is Amazon Q Developer being replaced by Kiro?
How much does Amazon Q cost?
What is the difference between Amazon Q Developer and Amazon Q Business?
Does Amazon Q use my data to train its models?
What models does Amazon Q use?
Can AWS credits pay for an assistant built on AWS?
Want an AI assistant running on your own data, on AWS?
CloudRoute matches you with one vetted AWS partner who builds it: connectors, identity, permissions and guardrails. When the work qualifies, the partner files POC or incremental workload (IW) funding, and AWS decides. Startups pay CloudRoute nothing.