Amazon aims to boost the adoption of its AI coding assistant Kiro by offering it free of charge to startups

Amazon Enters the AI Coding Tool Arena

With a crowded field of AI-powered coding assistants already capturing the attention of startup founders—think Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, Gemini Code Assist, GitHub Copilot, a host of AI-enhanced VSCode variants, and popular platforms like Replit and Lovable—can a new contender break through?

Amazon is betting on a classic strategy: offering its solution at no cost to attract users.

During his keynote at the re:Invent 2025 conference, AWS CEO Matt Garman revealed that Amazon will provide eligible early-stage startups with a complimentary year of access to its Kiro Pro+ coding tool. Qualified startups can apply for free credits covering up to 100 users.

However, this opportunity comes with certain limitations. Only U.S.-based startups that have received venture capital funding from pre-seed through Series B rounds are eligible. The offer excludes several regions, including France, Germany, Italy, much of South America, and countries under trade sanctions. Interested startups must submit their applications by December 31.

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