Kiro is an agentic IDE from AWS that builds code from written specs and then works through the tasks on its own. Whether it suits you comes down to how you like to work: it is driven by chat, specs and agents rather than by suggestions as you type, and everything you do spends credits from a monthly allowance.
What is Kiro?
Kiro is a coding environment built and operated by a team within AWS. Its core idea is spec-driven development: you describe what you want, Kiro turns that into a spec, and its agent carries out the work step by step. Enterprise plans are sold through AWS.
Kiro runs as a standalone IDE for macOS, Windows and Linux, as a command-line tool, and as Kiro Web in the browser on Pro and above. JetBrains IDEs and Zed connect to it through ACP. The IDE and CLI are not open source; the separate Kiro Crew workspace is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence.
What Kiro does in your code
The IDE has a chat panel where you work with your code in plain language. Agent mode is called Autopilot and is on by default, so Kiro carries out several steps on its own. You can switch it to supervised mode, where you approve every change before it lands.
Kiro does not offer tab completion for code in the IDE. The CLI shows inline ghost-text suggestions, but for shell commands. For understanding your project, Kiro runs language servers that keep an index of symbols, types and references across the codebase, and its chat has full awareness of the project structure.
Cloud sessions run in Kiro Web on Pro and above. The agent reads, edits, builds and runs shell commands inside a cloud sandbox, then hands the result back through GitHub or GitLab, usually as a pull request. Scheduled automations can also open pull requests for you. Locally, agents run on your own machine.
Kiro offers models from Anthropic and OpenAI alongside open weight models from DeepSeek, Qwen, Kimi, GLM and MiniMax, plus an Auto router that picks among them. Kiro does not train a model of its own. The Free plan gets the open weight models and Claude Sonnet 4.5; the other Claude models and the GPT models need a paid plan. Each model carries a credit multiplier, from 0.05x for some open weight models up to several times for frontier models.
There is no option to bring your own provider API key, and no local models: every model is hosted by Kiro and billed in Kiro credits. MCP is supported, with both local stdio servers and remote MCP servers, so you can connect extra tools and context.
Working with other people
Kiro has no public REST API. The CLI has a headless mode for CI/CD pipelines on Pro and above, which signs in with an API key set as an environment variable. Cloud sessions connect to GitHub and GitLab.
Team controls sit on the Enterprise plan: centralised billing, SSO, usage analytics, enterprise security controls and governance over which models, MCP servers and extensions people can use. Enterprise customers can also keep data in their own AWS account, with prompt logging to S3 and customer managed KMS keys.
Kiro pricing: what each plan gives
Kiro is priced in credits, a unit of work in response to your prompts. Credits reset each billing month and unused ones do not roll over. Extra credits cost $0.04 each.
- Free: $0 a month for 50 credits, with the open weight models and Claude Sonnet 4.5. The Free tier is not available in Kiro Enterprise or AWS GovCloud (US).
- Pro: $20 per user a month for 1,000 credits and the premium models.
- Pro+: $40 a month for 2,000 credits.
- Pro Max: $100 a month for 5,000 credits.
- Power: $200 a month for 10,000 credits.
- Enterprise: priced on request and sold through AWS, with centralised billing, SSO and usage analytics.
There is no time-limited trial, because the Free tier does not expire. New paid subscribers who sign up with social login or a Builder ID get $20 credited towards the subscription. Pro, Pro+, Pro Max and Power include indemnity for Kiro's output, subject to Kiro's excluded models and the AWS Service Terms.
Privacy and security
On the Free plan and on individual paid plans, your content may be used for service improvement unless you opt out. Enterprise content is not used for service improvement. Kiro may store your questions, responses and context such as code, Free tier inputs may be kept for up to 60 days for abuse detection, and there is no zero data retention mode.
Kiro sits within the scope of AWS's ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification. The Kiro IDE and CLI are HIPAA eligible, which means they can be used inside a HIPAA-compliant setup that the customer configures. Single sign-on through Okta, Entra ID and AWS IAM Identity Center is on Enterprise. Kiro is a managed AWS service with no self-hosted version. Support runs through a Discord community, with billing support and bug report pages on the Kiro site.
Who Kiro suits
Kiro suits developers who want an agent to plan and carry out whole pieces of work from a written spec, and who are happy to review the result rather than steer every line. Teams already on AWS get a clear path: Enterprise is sold through AWS, data can stay in their own account, and SSO works with Okta, Entra ID and IAM Identity Center. The wide model list, from cheap open weight models to Claude and GPT, lets you trade credits against model choice.
It suits you less well if you lean on code completion as you type, which the IDE does not offer. Developers who want to use their own provider key or run local models cannot do either here. Heavy users should also watch the credit allowance, since frontier models cost several times more credits than the open weight ones and unused credits expire at the end of the month.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Kiro cost?
Kiro has a Free plan with 50 credits a month. Pro is $20 per user a month for 1,000 credits, Pro+ is $40 for 2,000, Pro Max is $100 for 5,000 and Power is $200 for 10,000. Extra credits cost $0.04 each, and Enterprise is priced on request through AWS.
Which AI models can I use in Kiro?
Kiro offers Claude and GPT models plus open weight models from DeepSeek, Qwen, Kimi, GLM and MiniMax, and an Auto router. The Free plan gets the open weight models and Claude Sonnet 4.5, while the rest of the Claude and GPT models need a paid plan.
Does Kiro work outside its own IDE?
Yes. Kiro also runs as a CLI, as Kiro Web in the browser on Pro and above, and inside JetBrains IDEs and Zed through ACP. Kiro Web runs cloud sessions that deliver changes to GitHub or GitLab as pull requests.
Does Kiro train on my code?
On Free and individual paid plans, your content may be used for service improvement unless you opt out. On Enterprise, your content is not used for service improvement.
