Amazon Q Developer Review (2026)

Amazon Q Developer (formerly CodeWhisperer) is AWS's AI coding assistant, and in 2026 it's the right pick for teams whose codebase is mostly AWS infrastructure code, Java/.NET legacy modernization, or tightly integrated with AWS services. Q has unique strengths: AWS service-aware suggestions (IAM policies, CloudFormation, CDK, Lambda), automated Java 8/11/17/21 upgrades, security scanning via CodeGuru, and deep CLI/console integration. As a general-purpose coding assistant, it trails Cursor and Copilot — but for AWS-native shops, the integration depth is unmatched.