Kiro Review

Spec-driven AI IDE + CLI (ex-Q Developer CLI) + web/cloud agent; AWS successor to Amazon Q Developer

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Facts verified Oct 2, 2026Try Kiro →

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What we know about Kiro

Kiro is a ai coding agents platform: spec-driven AI IDE + CLI (ex-Q Developer CLI) + web/cloud agent; AWS successor to Amazon Q Developer. This profile tracks every Kiro fact we have verified, each linked to a primary source and dated.

Kiro does not publish a public per-minute rate we have been able to verify, so the price figure here stays blank until we can confirm one. We would rather show nothing than a guessed number; if you have a current Kiro quote, it is the fastest way for us to close that gap.

On capabilities, Kiro covers enterprise plan (contact sales), pick the model per task, admin audit logs, autonomous multi-file edits, runs terminal commands, and background / cloud agents, and does not offer runs local models, zero data retention option, and self-hosted / vpc deployment. Each of those is verified against Kiro's own docs or dashboard, not marketing copy.

In total we track 32 verified facts for Kiro today, each linking the primary source it came from so you can check our work - and vendor claims we have not measured ourselves are labeled as such on the Kiro fact sheet below.

Reviewed by vsref Editorialfacts verified Oct 2, 2026Methodology →

Fact sheet

Every row independently verified

Pricing

Pricing facts
How usage is metered	$ usage pool + model multipliers	Oct 2
What the free plan allows	50 credits/month	Oct 2
Cheapest paid plan (monthly)	$20	Oct 2
Top individual plan	$200	Oct 2
Usage included at entry tier	1,000 credits/month (Kiro Pro)	Oct 2
Rate-limit window	Monthly billing cycle	Oct 2
Price beyond the plan	$0.04 per add-on credit USD/credit	Oct 2
Bring your own API key	No	Oct 2
Team plan price	20 USD/user/mo	Oct 2
Enterprise plan (contact sales)	✓ Yes	Oct 2

Capabilities

Capabilities facts
Models available	GPT-5.6 Sol/Terra/Luna, Claude Opus 5.5, Opus 5 +10 more	Oct 2
Default model	Auto (recommended)	Oct 2
Pick the model per task	✓ Yes	Oct 2
Runs local models	✗ No	Oct 2
Max context (published)	1M tokens	Oct 2
Published benchmark	GPT-5.6 Sol 80	Oct 2

Compliance & trust

Compliance & trust facts
Trains on your code?	Free Tier and individual subscribers: "Subject to your...	Oct 2
Zero data retention option	✗ No	Oct 2
SSO	Yes	Oct 2
Self-hosted / VPC deployment	✗ No	Oct 2
Data residency	Enterprise profiles in US East (N. Virginia)	Oct 2
Admin audit logs	✓ Yes	Oct 2

Build experience

Build experience facts
Where it runs	IDE, CLI, web (Kiro Web), mobile (iOS, preview) +2 more	Oct 2
Editor support	Own IDE (Kiro IDE); ACP-compatible editors via Kiro CLI	Oct 2
Autonomous multi-file edits	✓ Yes	Oct 2
Runs terminal commands	✓ Yes	Oct 2
Background / cloud agents	✓ Yes	Oct 2
Parallel agents	✓ Yes	Oct 2
Opens PRs from issues	✓ Yes	Oct 2
MCP support	✓ Yes	Oct 2
Project rules files	Steering files: workspace .kiro/steering/ +5 more	Oct 2
Checkpoints / rollback	✓ Yes	Oct 2

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Kiro head-to-head

Kiro vs Cursor →won 2 · lost 4 · tied 1

BeginnerswonEnterpriselostFree PlanslostLocal ModelslostOpen SourcetieTerminal WorkflowswonVS Codelost

Kiro vs Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf) →won 3 · lost 2 · tied 2

BeginnerswonEnterpriselostFree PlanswonLocal ModelstieOpen SourcetieTerminal WorkflowswonVS Codelost