Short answer
Pick Kiro if you want specs before code: AWS built it around requirements, a design and a task list that you review before the agent implements anything, and its free plan has 50 credits a month. Pick Cursor if you want a faster, chat-first editor with its own models, cloud agents and event-driven Automations, and a cheaper first paid plan ($8 a month against Kiro's $20). Both import a VS Code setup and install extensions from Open VSX.
Kiro vs Cursor at a glance
| Kiro | Cursor | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | AI IDE from AWS built around specs, with a CLI, a web agent and Kiro Crew | AI code editor with its own agent, CLI and cloud agents |
| Price to start | Free with 50 credits a month; Pro is $20 a month | Free with limited requests; Plus is $8 a month |
| How use is counted | Credits: 1,000 on Pro up to 10,000 on Power; extra at $0.04 each | A weekly pool for Cursor's models; third-party models per token |
| Models | Auto, Claude Opus 5.5 and Sonnet 5.5, GPT-5.6, and open-weight models such as DeepSeek and Qwen | Grok 4.7 and Composer 2.5 from the plan's weekly pool; Claude, GPT, Gemini and others at API list price on Premium and up |
| Planning | Specs: requirements.md, design.md and tasks.md, plus bugfix specs | Planning in the agent; Projects for longer work |
| Project rules | Steering | Rules |
| Hooks | .kiro/hooks/*.json, with triggers such as PostFileSave and PreToolUse; a command or a prompt to the agent | 21 events in hooks.json; command or prompt handlers; no permission-request event |
| Skills and MCP | Agent Skills, MCP, and Powers | Skills, MCP, subagents, plugins |
| Unattended work | Web agent with an autonomous mode; Kiro Crew | Cloud agents and Automations on Premium ($30) and up |
| Editor base | Built on VS Code's open source foundation; Open VSX extensions | Imports VS Code settings and extensions; Open VSX extensions |
| Where it runs | IDE, CLI, web, mobile (early access), Kiro Crew | Desktop editor, CLI (agent), cloud agents, mobile, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Linear, Jira |
Pricing
Kiro
- Free$050 credits a month; open-weight models and Claude Sonnet 4.5.
- Pro$20/mo1,000 credits; premium models; extra credits at $0.04 each.
- Pro+$40/mo2,000 credits.
- Pro Max$100/mo5,000 credits.
- Power$200/mo10,000 credits.
- Teams$20 per seat/mo500 credits per seat, pooled from 2 seats; extra credits at $0.04.
Checked Nov 11, 2026 on kiro.dev
Cursor
- Free$0Limited agent and chat requests.
- Plus$8/moGrok models only, from a weekly usage pool shared with Grok.
- Premium$30/mo4x Plus usage; cloud agents and Automations; third-party models at API list price.
- Super$100/mo15x Plus usage; priority at peak times.
- Ultra$200/mo50x Plus usage.
- TeamsFrom $30 per user/moCentral billing, SSO, shared rules, skills and plugins.
Checked Nov 11, 2026 on cursor.com
Kiro sells credits, and each model uses them at its own rate: Auto counts 1x, Claude Sonnet 5.5 1.3x and Claude Opus 5.5 2x. Cursor's own models come out of a weekly pool with no per-token bill, and other vendors' models are billed at API list price from Premium up. If you want Claude models in the IDE, Kiro includes them from the $20 plan; in Cursor they start at $30 plus tokens.
Specs first, or chat first
This is the real difference.
Kiro makes the spec the center of the work. You describe a feature and Kiro writes three files: requirements.md with user stories and acceptance criteria, design.md with the architecture, and tasks.md with a list of discrete tasks. You review them before it implements anything. For a bug there is a bugfix spec, which records the current, expected and unchanged behavior. When you run all tasks, Kiro orders them by dependency and runs them in waves, with the tasks inside a wave in parallel. A Quick Spec writes all three files without stopping for approval, for work you already understand.
Cursor starts from the prompt. You ask for a change, watch the diff and correct course. There is planning in the agent and Projects for longer work, but nothing forces a written spec. That is faster for small changes and gives you less of a paper trail for big ones.
If your team reviews designs before code, Kiro builds that in. If you mostly want the agent to get on with it, Cursor is lighter.
Credits against a weekly pool
Kiro sells credits. The free plan has 50 a month. Pro has 1,000 for $20, Pro+ 2,000 for $40, Pro Max 5,000 for $100 and Power 10,000 for $200, and paid plans buy more at $0.04 each. Models use credits at different rates: Auto is 1x, Claude Sonnet 5.5 is 1.3x, Claude Opus 5.5 is 2x and the open-weight models are well under 1x.
Cursor's paid plans share a weekly pool for its own models, Grok 4.7 and Composer 2.5: Plus at $8, then Premium at $30 with four times the pool, Super at $100 with 15 times and Ultra at $200 with 50 times. Other vendors' models start at Premium and are billed at API list price.
Models
Kiro's model list has Auto, which routes each task to a model, Claude Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5.5 and Haiku 5.5, GPT-5.6 Sol, Terra and Luna, and open-weight models such as DeepSeek 3.2, GLM-5 and Qwen3 Coder Next. The free plan gets Auto, Claude Sonnet 4.5 and the open-weight models. Some models are limited to US regions.
Cursor has its own Grok and Composer models, and from Premium also Claude, GPT, Gemini and others.
Hooks, steering and unattended work
- Hooks: Kiro hooks are JSON files in
.kiro/hooks/. Triggers includePostFileSave,PreToolUse,PostToolUseandStop, and the action is a shell command or a prompt to the agent, such as "update the tests for this file". They work in the IDE and the CLI. Cursor'shooks.jsonhas 21 events, with command or prompt handlers. - Project rules: Kiro calls them steering; Cursor calls them rules.
- Skills and MCP: both read Agent Skills and connect MCP servers. Kiro adds Powers.
- Away from your desk: Kiro has a web agent with an autonomous mode, and Kiro Crew. Cursor has cloud agents, and Automations that start one on a cron schedule or on events from GitHub, GitLab, Slack, Linear, Sentry, PagerDuty or a webhook.
The editor underneath
Kiro says it is built on Visual Studio Code's open source foundation, and it imports a VS Code profile: extensions, themes, settings and shortcuts. Cursor imports VS Code settings, keybindings and extensions in one click. Both use the Open VSX registry, so an extension that exists only in Microsoft's Marketplace may be missing from either.
Which to pick
Pick Kiro if
- Your team wants requirements and a design reviewed before any code is written.
- You want Claude models included from a $20 plan.
- You want a free plan that includes Claude Sonnet 4.5.
- You want hooks that react to a file being saved.
Pick Cursor if
- You want to prompt, watch the diff and iterate quickly.
- You want the cheapest paid plan: $8 a month.
- You want agents that start on events from GitHub, Slack, Linear or Sentry.
- You want Grok, Claude, GPT and Gemini in one editor.
Also consider
- BriefkinWe make thisBriefkin does not have a hook for Kiro yet. On the Cursor side, its installer adds a hook to Cursor, Claude Code and Codex, shows their sessions on one board, and pings you on Telegram when a Claude Code or Codex session stops for a permission.See how it works
- Claude CodeAnthropic's own agent, with plan mode instead of specs. See Kiro vs Claude Code.
- Windsurf (Devin Desktop)A third AI editor on Open VSX. See Windsurf vs Cursor.
- VS Code with CopilotThe free editor both of these import from. See Cursor vs VS Code.
Questions
Is Kiro free?
Kiro has a free plan with 50 credits a month and access to open-weight models and Claude Sonnet 4.5. Paid plans start with Pro at $20 a month for 1,000 credits, as of November 2026.
Do I need an AWS account to use Kiro?
Kiro is built and run by AWS, but you sign in to it as its own product. Check kiro.dev for the sign-in options that apply to you.
What is spec-driven development in Kiro?
Kiro turns a prompt into a spec of three files: requirements.md (or bugfix.md for a bug), design.md and tasks.md. You review them, then Kiro runs the tasks one at a time or all at once, in waves that respect each task's dependencies.
Which is cheaper, Kiro or Cursor?
Cursor's first paid plan is cheaper: Plus is $8 a month with Cursor's own Grok models. Kiro Pro is $20 a month for 1,000 credits, which cover Claude and GPT models at different rates per model. Cursor offers those vendors' models from Premium, $30 a month, plus tokens.
Can I use my VS Code extensions in Kiro and Cursor?
Mostly. Both import a VS Code setup and both install extensions from the Open VSX registry, so extensions that are only in Microsoft's Marketplace may be missing.