Cursor vs Kiro
Compare Cursor and Kiro by workflow, pricing, privacy, model support, and best use cases.
Cursor
Cursor is a strong choice for developers who want AI assistance to live inside the editor rather than as a separate chat or terminal tool, especially when codebase context and multi-step agent workflows matter.
Kiro
Choose Kiro when you want AI coding to start from structured specs and team standards rather than ad hoc chat prompts; choose Cursor, Windsurf, or Copilot when fast editor-native assistance is more important than a spec-first engineering process.
Key Differences
Workflow
Cursor is a VS Code-based AI IDE focused on turning autocomplete, chat, codebase context, and autonomous coding agents into one integrated developer workflow.
Kiro is an AWS-backed agentic AI IDE for spec-driven software development, combining local coding, CLI automation, web-based delegated agents, MCP tools, and team steering into one structured engineering workflow.
Editor base
VS Code
Standalone
BYOK
Yes
No
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Cursor | Kiro |
|---|---|---|
| Primary workflow | Cursor is a VS Code-based AI IDE focused on turning autocomplete, chat, codebase context, and autonomous coding agents into one integrated developer workflow. | Kiro is an AWS-backed agentic AI IDE for spec-driven software development, combining local coding, CLI automation, web-based delegated agents, MCP tools, and team steering into one structured engineering workflow. |
| Type | ai-ide | ai-ide |
| Editor base | VS Code | Standalone |
| Pricing model | freemium | freemium |
| Starting price | $20 | $20 |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | No | No |
| Local models | No | No |
| BYOK | Yes | No |
| Platforms | macOS, Windows, Linux | macOS, Windows, Linux, Web, CLI, GitHub, GitLab, AWS, MCP |
| Models | OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Azure, AWS Bedrock | Auto, Claude Opus 4.8, Claude Opus 4.7, Claude Opus 4.6, Claude Opus 4.5, Claude Sonnet 4.6, Claude Sonnet 4.5, Claude Sonnet 4.0, Claude Haiku 4.5, DeepSeek 3.2, MiniMax M2.5, GLM-5, MiniMax M2.1, Qwen3 Coder Next |
| Enterprise features | Centralized team billing, Admin dashboard, Usage analytics, Team-wide privacy mode, SAML/OIDC SSO, SCIM seat management, Repository access controls, Model access controls, MCP access controls, Audit logs, Service accounts, AI code tracking API, Priority support | AWS IAM Identity Center integration, Okta and Microsoft Entra ID connection through IAM Identity Center, AWS account-based billing, Kiro console profiles, User and group subscriptions, Usage dashboard, Per-user activity reports, Prompt logging controls, CloudWatch metrics, AWS GovCloud support, Enterprise data collection opt-out, Admin-managed settings, Supported Kiro console regions including US East, Europe Frankfurt, and AWS GovCloud regions |
| Best for | Developers who want an AI-first editor without leaving the VS Code-style workflow., Teams working in medium to large codebases where repository context matters., Builders who use AI for refactoring, feature implementation, debugging, tests, and code review support., Organizations that need admin controls, SSO, usage analytics, and privacy settings. | Teams that want AI coding with requirements, design docs, and implementation plans, Developers moving prototypes toward production-quality code, Large codebases where persistent project context and team standards matter, AWS-oriented teams that want enterprise identity, billing, and governance, Workflows that benefit from MCP tools, hooks, and repeatable agent automation, Developers who want both a desktop AI IDE and a CLI agent |
| Not best for | Developers who require a fully open-source editor., Teams that need all inference to stay strictly local by default., Users who only want lightweight autocomplete and do not need agentic workflows., Organizations that cannot allow code context to pass through a vendor-managed backend. | Users who only want lightweight autocomplete inside an existing editor, Teams that require fully local model execution, Developers who want open-source IDE source code, Small one-off edits where a simpler chat-based editor may be faster, Organizations that cannot accept hosted AI processing or credit-based usage billing |
Use Case Winners
Cursor is built around a VS Code editor workflow.
Cursor has BYOK or model-routing flexibility.
Kiro lists more team or enterprise controls.
Kiro has stronger frontend or web workflow signals.
Kiro supports more model/provider options or BYOK-style workflows.
Neither tool shows a strong signal for this use case in the current structured data.
Pricing Comparison
Cursor
- Hobby$0 / month
Free plan with limited Agent requests and limited Tab completions.
- Pro$20 / month
Individual plan with extended Agent limits, frontier model access, MCPs, skills, hooks, and cloud agents.
- Teams$40 / user/month
Team plan with centralized billing, admin controls, usage analytics, team privacy mode, SAML/OIDC SSO, and team marketplace.
- EnterpriseCustom
Custom plan with pooled usage, invoice billing, SCIM, repository/model/MCP controls, audit logs, service accounts, and priority support.
Kiro
- Free$0 / per month
Perpetual free tier with 50 monthly credits and limited access to open-weight models and selected Claude models.
- Pro$20 / per month
Includes 1,000 monthly credits and access to paid-tier model capacity with optional overages.
- Pro+$40 / per month
Includes 2,000 monthly credits for more frequent agentic development sessions.
- Pro Max$100 / per month
Includes 5,000 monthly credits and the full Kiro feature set, including specs, custom subagents, powers, hooks, and full CLI access.
- Power$200 / per month
Includes 10,000 monthly credits for heavy individual or team usage.
Privacy & Security
Cursor
Cursor offers Privacy Mode, which is intended to prevent code from being used for training and to enable zero-data-retention behavior with model providers. Cursor also states that BYOK requests still go through Cursor backend for final prompt building, and codebase indexing may upload code chunks to compute embeddings.
Kiro
Kiro is an AWS application. Its IDE privacy documentation describes AWS shared-responsibility security practices, while Kiro Web documentation states that task descriptions, chat messages, code changes, and additional context may be stored to execute tasks. Kiro Web documentation also states that content from Free Tier and individual subscribers may be used for service improvement unless opted out, while enterprise users are automatically opted out of telemetry and content collection by AWS. Teams should review Kiro Web sandbox access, connected GitHub/GitLab permissions, MCP tools, secrets, network access, and enterprise logging settings before using it with sensitive code.
Choose Cursor if...
- Developers who want an AI-first editor without leaving the VS Code-style workflow.
- Teams working in medium to large codebases where repository context matters.
- Builders who use AI for refactoring, feature implementation, debugging, tests, and code review support.
- Organizations that need admin controls, SSO, usage analytics, and privacy settings.
Choose Kiro if...
- Teams that want AI coding with requirements, design docs, and implementation plans
- Developers moving prototypes toward production-quality code
- Large codebases where persistent project context and team standards matter
- AWS-oriented teams that want enterprise identity, billing, and governance
- Workflows that benefit from MCP tools, hooks, and repeatable agent automation
Avoid Cursor if...
- Developers who require a fully open-source editor.
- Teams that need all inference to stay strictly local by default.
- Users who only want lightweight autocomplete and do not need agentic workflows.
- Organizations that cannot allow code context to pass through a vendor-managed backend.
Avoid Kiro if...
- Users who only want lightweight autocomplete inside an existing editor
- Teams that require fully local model execution
- Developers who want open-source IDE source code
- Small one-off edits where a simpler chat-based editor may be faster
- Organizations that cannot accept hosted AI processing or credit-based usage billing