$19 a month
View plans and limitsAmazon Q vs Kagi Assistant:
which should you use?
Amazon Q and Kagi Assistant, side by side. Find the one that fits what you need to do.
Find your best fitThe 30-second answer
Pricing, simplified
Start free. Upgrade when you need more.
$5 a month
View plans and limitsThe 30-second comparison
If you only read one section, make it this one. Rows where both sides say the same thing are left out — the point is where they differ. Where each row came from is listed underneath.
| Category | Amazon Q | Kagi Assistant | Better fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it's built for | The assistant that already has your AWS account in context, which makes it the practical choice for questions about infrastructure you actually run. | Sits on top of a search engine you pay for rather than one funded by advertising, so the results behind an answer are not ranked by who bought them. | Tie |
| Free plan | Yes. Amazon Q Developer free tier with limited agentic requests a month, the latest Claude models, and use in the IDE or CLI | Yes. Trial tier, 100 searches with the Assistant included, no card needed | Tie |
| Cheapest way to pay | $19 a month. | $5 a month. | Kagi Assistant |
| What the paid tiers cost |
|
| Tie |
| What to watch out for | Sold and billed through AWS on top of your cloud bill. Q Developer Pro is $19 a user a month; Q Business is a separate product at $3 (Lite) or $20 (Pro) a user a month, with a 60-day trial for up to 50 users. | The free tier is a 100-search trial. Beyond that you are buying the search subscription, and the assistant comes with it rather than being sold on its own; prices exclude sales tax. | Tie |
| Who it is usually for | developers, working professionals | people exploring, working professionals, researchers | Tie |
| Runs on your own machine | Hosted service only — your material goes to their servers. | Can be run on your own machine, so the material never leaves it. | Kagi Assistant |
| Made by | Amazon — Seattle, US. | Kagi — Palo Alto, US. | Tie |
Kagi Assistant is ahead on 2 of the 8 rows compared, 1 of them about how well it does the job itself. It is a single row of daylight, so read Amazon Q’s column before deciding.
Kagi Assistant
Sits on top of a search engine you pay for rather than one funded by advertising, so the results behind an answer are not ranked by who bought them.
The assistant that already has your AWS account in context, which makes it the practical choice for questions about infrastructure you actually run.
Amazon Q is the better answer when the job is what it was built for rather than what the pick above does broadly.
How we know
Every row that separated these two, and where it came from. Nothing here is a hands-on test — if a line rests on a vendor’s own pricing page, it says so and links it.
| Row | Favours | Weight | Where it came from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheapest way to pay | Kagi Assistant | Everything else | From each vendor’s own pricing page. Dates and pages are listed below. |
| Runs on your own machine | Kagi Assistant | How well it does the job | From this site’s own catalogue record for each product — compiled by hand, not imported. How a product gets listed |
The prices
Amazon Q. Read by hand off aws.amazon.com on 4 September 2026. It is not on the monthly re-check, so confirm there before paying. aws.amazon.com/q/developer/pricing
Kagi Assistant. Read by hand off kagi.com on 4 September 2026. It is not on the monthly re-check, so confirm there before paying. kagi.com/pricing
The ratings
The category these two share. General-Purpose AI Assistants — both are listed there in the catalogue, and the fit recorded against each listing is a judgement made here, by hand.
The nine-category grid below. Derived from what each product is listed for, by one script, once per build — so the same pair always reads the same. It is a derivation, not a review.
What this is not
Neither product was run side by side to produce this page. Nobody was paid to appear on it and nothing here is ranked by commission.
To put the same question to both and read the answers yourself, run them side by side — that is a live test, and this is not.
Choose based on what you’re doing
All ten categories, including the ones where neither of these is the answer. These ratings are derived from what each product is listed for, not from running it — a rating here is a reading of the record, and the record is linked.
General-Purpose AI Assistants
Questions, brainstorming, explanations, everyday tasks, decision-making, general advice.
Search, Research & Academics
Web research, deep research, books, academic papers, citations, news, fact-checking.
Writing, Communication & Language
Emails, reports, essays, editing, summarizing, translation, presentations.
Coding, Data & Technical Work
Programming, debugging, data analysis, spreadsheets, math, engineering, technical research.
Business, Finance & Professional Work
Business strategy, investing, market research, legal, sales, HR, accounting, consulting.
Image & Design
Image generation, photo editing, logos, graphics, product design, advertising creatives.
Video
Video generation and editing, clipping, subtitles, avatars, animation and motion capture.
Audio, Voice & Music
Voice generation, transcription, music, dubbing, sound cleanup and podcast production.
Marketing & Content Creation
Social media, SEO, advertising, copywriting, content ideas, scripts, brand development.
Productivity, Automation & Personal Life
AI agents, workflows, scheduling, meetings, organization, shopping, travel, personal finance.
The assistant that already has your AWS account in context, which makes it the practical choice for questions about infrastructure you actually run.
by AmazonSits on top of a search engine you pay for rather than one funded by advertising, so the results behind an answer are not ranked by who bought them.
by KagiPricing, simplified
The plans people actually compare, read from each vendor’s own page.
Tell us what you use AI for
Pick your main job and the verdict below changes to match. Every answer is on the page already, so this works as a reader, not a lookup.
Frequently asked questions
Is Amazon Q or Kagi Assistant better?
Kagi Assistant is ahead on 2 of the 8 rows compared, 1 of them about how well it does the job itself. It is a single row of daylight, so read Amazon Q’s column before deciding. both have a free plan you can start on; Kagi Assistant is cheaper to start paying for, $5 against $19. Amazon Q: The assistant that already has your AWS account in context, which makes it the practical choice for questions about infrastructure you actually run. Kagi Assistant: Sits on top of a search engine you pay for rather than one funded by advertising, so the results behind an answer are not ranked by who bought them.
Is Amazon Q or Kagi Assistant cheaper?
Kagi Assistant — paid plans start at $5 a month against $19 a month.
Do Amazon Q and Kagi Assistant both have free plans?
Yes. Amazon Q: Amazon Q Developer free tier with limited agentic requests a month, the latest Claude models, and use in the IDE or CLI. Kagi Assistant: Trial tier, 100 searches with the Assistant included, no card needed.
What should I watch out for?
Amazon Q: Sold and billed through AWS on top of your cloud bill. Q Developer Pro is $19 a user a month; Q Business is a separate product at $3 (Lite) or $20 (Pro) a user a month, with a 60-day trial for up to 50 users. Kagi Assistant: The free tier is a 100-search trial. Beyond that you are buying the search subscription, and the assistant comes with it rather than being sold on its own; prices exclude sales tax.
Read more
What it is for, who makes it, what it costs and what to use instead.
What it is for, who makes it, what it costs and what to use instead.
Questions, brainstorming, explanations, everyday tasks, decision-making, general advice.