# AWS Kiro 36 Hacker News commenters recommended AWS Kiro and 37 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 11 of 13 months. **Verdict:** Developers like its spec-driven workflow for requirements and tasks, but critics say it struggles with larger epics and does not always follow specs. ## Why people recommend it - Strong at requirements and specs (5 comments): "The requirements and tasks, it does really well, but the connection of the epics/larger tasks is where it crumbles mostly." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45979043)) "AI does not forget requirements when you use a spec driven AI tool like Kiro" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46434437)) "In my experience, it's high-quality for creating and iterating on specs." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47355428)) - Preferred over other coding tools (4 comments): "All of my coworkers pretty much love using Cline and Kiro." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46141784)) "Tbh I’ve found Kiro to be much better than Claude Code." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46555342)) "I have been loving using Kiro for the same reasons" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48309003)) - Worth the money for productivity (3 comments): "it is clearly a significant productivity increase per dollar spent" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48308504)) "My experience is positive. Kiro writes most of my code." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47391478)) "Ultimately it was money well-spent" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48520954)) - Prompts you to clarify intent (2 comments): "Kiro, what we use at work, on the other hand will just prompt you." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48368019)) "it makes me slow down and think about what I want it to do" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47111077)) ## What people warn about - Outages linked to its agent actions (4 comments): "its hard to stay excited about the tools when they can be down for a week because kiro launched" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48153723)) "how productive was the genius at the AWS who used Kiro to cause that December outage" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47286791)) "deleted an entire infrastructure environment, complete with data, config, etc." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48269513)) - Fails to finish or respect specs (3 comments): "I, sadly, couldn't even get it to implement solitaire correctly, but the idea sounds good." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45977765)) "agents don't respect all the details of the specs it creates enough to make the time investment in super-detailed specs worthwhile" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46434560)) "It never occurred to the AI agent to do some simple cross examination before essentially throwing in the towel?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47999976)) - Confusing token billing and suspensions (3 comments): "Three billion dollars sounds about right for a free week of Kiro in the default Agentic mode." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48947547)) "They took a page from AWS on whatever the hell a Kiro token is supposed to represent." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49571602)) "My AWS Kiro account was suspended after upgrading to their $200/month Power plan." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47474508)) - Missing features compared with rivals (2 comments): "Most of my gripes are with the harness, CC is way better." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47392420)) "it's just not there. Most of the features I like in Cursor are missing." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49507987)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Windsurf](https://hackerapproved.com/p/windsurf.md): 42 recommend - [JetBrains Air](https://hackerapproved.com/p/jetbrains-air.md): 13 recommend - [ThinkRail by JetBrains](https://hackerapproved.com/p/jetbrains-thinkrail.md): 11 recommend - [Zed Delta](https://hackerapproved.com/p/zed-delta.md): 9 recommend ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://kiro.dev/) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "AWS Kiro", https://hackerapproved.com/p/kiro/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).