Kiro vs Visual Studio Code
Kiro
kiro.dev
Visual Studio Code
code.visualstudio.comSide by side
| Figure | Kiro | Visual Studio Code |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $20/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 5 | 1 |
| Spec score · Agentic Ides | 8.2 (#11) | 8.2 (#12) |
| Agent customization | Steering files let users configure agent behavior with project or global context, coding standards, and workflows. | Custom instructions, agent skills, custom agents, MCP servers, plugins, and extensions are supported. |
| Desktop platforms | The IDE is available for macOS, Windows, and Linux. | VS Code runs on macOS, Linux, and Windows. |
| Extensions | The IDE supports VS Code settings, themes, and Open VSX plugins. | The Visual Studio Marketplace lists more than 80,000 extensions. |
| Integrations | Kiro supports MCP servers that connect agents to external services, APIs, documentation, and specialized tools. | The editor includes Git source control and can connect to GitHub Codespaces and remote development environments. |
| Privacy | Kiro says it does not use enterprise users’ content for service improvement, while it may use Free Tier and individual subscriber content for that purpose. | VS Code collects telemetry, which users can disable with the telemetry.telemetryLevel setting; extensions may collect separate telemetry. |
| Product | Kiro is an agentic development environment that helps developers ship engineering work with AI agents. | Visual Studio Code is a code editor with AI assisted development features. |
Plans
Kiro
- KIRO FREEFree
- KIRO PRO$20 a month
- KIRO PRO+$40 a month
- KIRO PRO MAX$100 a month
- KIRO POWER$200 a month
In their own words
Kiro
Kiro is an agentic development environment for professional developers, software teams, businesses, and enterprises. Its spec-driven workflow turns prompts into requirements, designs, and tasks for agents to implement. Deterministic tools, including property-based tests, verify code correctness and its alignment with user intent. Background agent hooks can update documentation, generate unit tests, or optimise performance, while steering files let users supply project or global context, standards, and workflows. The IDE supports VS Code settings, themes, Open VSX plugins, and MCP servers for connecting agents to external services, APIs, documentation, and tools. Desktop versions run on macOS, Windows, and Linux; Kiro also has a web interface and mobile app for accessing cloud sessions from a phone. Kiro Web requires a paid subscription. The free plan includes 50 credits per month; KIRO PRO costs $20 a month billed per user and includes 1,000 credits. Kiro says it encrypts data in transit and at rest; enterprise administrators can configure customer-managed keys.
Visual Studio Code
Visual Studio Code is an open-source code editor with AI-assisted development features for macOS, Linux, Windows, and the web. It offers inline AI suggestions and intelligent completions, and its agent workflows can plan tasks, change code, run commands, and iterate. Users can switch between agent work and direct coding in the same editor. Agent workflows work with Copilot and third-party providers, and users can supply their own model key. The editor includes JavaScript, TypeScript, CSS, and HTML support; extensions add support for other languages. Its Marketplace lists more than 80,000 extensions. Built-in tools include Git source control, an integrated terminal, code running and debugging, build tasks, and local history. It connects to GitHub Codespaces and remote development environments, while Settings Sync and profiles help carry and organize customizations. The browser version has a limited execution environment. VS Code is free for private or commercial use at free. A GitHub account is required to start building with AI agents.