Coding Assistants
Amazon Q Developer vs Windsurf.
Both sit in Coding Assistants, scored on the same six pillars from the same published methodology. Here is where they actually differ.
The short answer
Too close to call on score alone — Amazon Q Developer sits at 80.4 and Windsurf at 81.6. A gap that size is inside the noise of any honest scoring model, so pick on fit rather than rank.
Amazon Q Developer leads on security & compliance, maturity & reliability and integrations & ecosystem; Windsurf leads on capability and value for money.
80.4
Strong
AWS's AI coding assistant for the IDE, CLI and cloud console.
- From
- Free tier / $19 per user per month (Pro)
- Pricing
- Freemium
- Maturity
- Established
- Founded
- 2023
Cognition
81.6
Strong
Agentic IDE with Cascade flows, now part of the Devin family.
- From
- Free / $15 per month (Pro)
- Pricing
- Freemium
- Maturity
- Emerging
- Founded
- 2021
Pillar by pillar
The same six pillars and fixed weights used for every tool on the site. A lead of fewer than 5 points is not called for either side — these are evidence-backed judgements, not measurements. Read the methodology.
Capability
Windsurf by 8
Value for Money
Windsurf by 5
Security & Compliance
Amazon Q Developer by 8
Integrations & Ecosystem
Amazon Q Developer by 5
Maturity & Reliability
Amazon Q Developer by 6
Momentum
Level
Which one, and when
Pick Amazon Q Developer if
- →compliance and data control decide it — it leads Security & Compliance by 8 points.
- →it has to hold up in production from day one — it leads Maturity & Reliability by 6 points.
- →it has to fit the stack you already run — it leads Integrations & Ecosystem by 5 points.
- →Teams building on AWS
- →Cloud infra and IaC work
- →Enterprise security-conscious dev
The catch
- Most valuable inside the AWS ecosystem specifically
- General coding quality competitive but not category-leading
Pick Windsurf if
- →the hardest end of the work is what you are buying for — it leads Capability by 8 points.
- →cost per unit of output is the binding constraint — it leads Value for Money by 5 points.
- →Developers wanting an affordable agentic IDE
- →Teams exploring autonomous agents
- →Cascade-style flow coding
The catch
- Acquisition transition created roadmap uncertainty
- Smaller community and ecosystem than Cursor or Copilot
What each is good at
Amazon Q Developer
- ✓Deep AWS knowledge for cloud config, IaC and migrations
- ✓Agentic features plus built-in security scanning
- ✓Enterprise-grade controls within the AWS account model
Windsurf
- ✓Cascade agent keeps strong long-session codebase context
- ✓Aggressive pricing relative to capability
- ✓Backed by Cognition's autonomous-agent research
Other comparisons in Coding Assistants
Comparing something else? Build your own side-by-side across any tools in the catalog.