The market for AI that assists software developers is attracting intense investment and competition, pitting tech giants against specialized startups. Amazon Web Services is reportedly preparing its own entry into this dynamic space, working on a new AI-assisted coding service aimed squarely at offerings from companies like Anysphere (maker of Cursor) and Windsurf AI, according to a report from The Information citing people with direct knowledge.
This initiative underscores AWS’s move to capture a share of the developer tool market currently led by Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot and seeing rapid innovation from Google and others. The planned AWS service is described as having capabilities to analyze a developer’s code to understand project intentions and then propose suitable code additions based on that context.
Building on Existing AWS AI Foundations
This reported development wouldn’t be AWS’s first foray into AI developer tools. The company already offers Amazon CodeWhisperer, an AI coding assistant providing suggestions and security scanning, which became generally available for individual use in April 2023.
More broadly, AWS launched Amazon Q in November 2023 (now generally available after a preview period), an AI assistant designed to help users with various AWS tasks.
Amazon Q incorporates developer-specific functions like code generation, debugging help, suggesting optimizations, and even transforming code between language versions (like upgrading Java applications). It integrates with the AWS console, IDEs (via CodeWhisperer), and chat tools, priced at $20-$25 per user monthly depending on features. The newly reported service is expected to complement or enhance these existing AI capabilities within the AWS ecosystem.
Targeting High-Flying Startups
The specific mention of Cursor and Windsurf as targets highlights the competitive pressure from specialized players. Cursor, which promotes itself as an “AI-first code editor” designed for pair-programming with AI, raised a $30 million Series A led by Coatue in late 2024, building on earlier seed funding involving the OpenAI Startup Fund.
Its features include AI chat that understands the entire codebase and tools for automated error fixing and test generation. Windsurf (which rebranded from Codeium) secured $65 million in a Series B led by General Catalyst in January 2024.
Windsurf appeals to enterprises with features like self-hosting options (running models on private infrastructure for better security) and broad IDE support. The platform’s strategic value was further emphasized by reports in April 2025 suggesting OpenAI was exploring a $3 billion acquisition of Windsurf.
Navigating a Rapidly Evolving Competitive Field
AWS is stepping into an arena defined by swift innovation and diverse strategies. Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot, often seen as the benchmark, underwent a major expansion in early April. It debuted “Agent Mode” within VS Code, allowing the AI assistant to actively execute terminal commands, apply fixes, and navigate project files.
Alongside this, GitHub launched a $39/month Copilot Pro+ plan offering premium request access to models like Anthropic’s Claude 3.7 Sonnet and Google’s Gemini 2.0 Flash, and made its AI Code Review feature generally available. Before that, Copilot Free tier received Terminal Chat support in February, though usage is capped.
Google Cloud, a primary AWS competitor, countered with Firebase Studio in April 2025, an integrated, browser-based development platform built on Code OSS (the open-source project underlying VS Code).
Firebase Studio uses Google’s Gemini models for coding assistance and features an “App Prototyping agent” that can generate web applications from multimodal prompts like sketches. This launch followed Google’s introduction of Gemini Code Assist Free in February, offering significantly more monthly code completions than GitHub’s free plan. The trend towards dedicated AI interaction spaces was also seen with Google adding a “Canvas” feature to Gemini in March.
Alternative Approaches and Open Source
Beyond these integrated platforms, other strategies are emerging. OpenAI released its own open-source Codex CLI in April, a model-agnostic tool focused on developer control via the command line, supporting local configuration and extensibility. This move towards more open, controllable tools resonated with some developers, leading to community projects like Open Codex CLI.
Anthropic also presented a distinct approach with its Claude 3.7 Sonnet model and Claude Code assistant, launched in February. Claude Code aims to be “an active collaborator that can search and read code, edit files, write and run tests, commit and push code to GitHub, and use command-line tools.”
As AWS reportedly prepares its new service, it faces a complex market with choices ranging from deeply integrated platforms to open tools and specialized assistants. Pricing models also vary widely, and underlying these developments are persistent legal questions surrounding the use of public code for training AI models and ongoing concerns about the security implications of relying on AI-generated code, aspects AWS will also need to navigate.
