AWS Codewhisperer

What is AWS Codewhisperer?

Amazon CodeWhisperer is a coding support AI service provided by Amazon's AWS cloud service.

Similar to its predecessor GitHub Copilot, Amazon CodeWhisperer specializes in "coding efficiency and speed" in programming, such as code completion and security checks, but Amazon CodeWhisperer has a file-based security scanning function, and The main difference is that Amazon CodeWhisperer has a file-based security scanning function and a free plan.

AWS Codewhisperer's main features and what it can do.

Code completion

AWS Codewhisperer can add coding support functions to various IDEs such as Visual Studio Code using plug-ins, and automatically generates code from comments (even in Japanese).

However, currently not all programming can use the code completion function due to the limited number of supported programming languages and frameworks.

Security Scan

One of the strengths of AWS Codewhisperer is the file-based security scan function. Although there is a limit to the number of times it can be used per month, you can perform a security check on a given file with a single click on the editor.

The security scan is very powerful, detecting not only simple things such as hard-coded sensitive information, but also vulnerabilities in the program itself.

What you can't do with AWS Codewhisperer

Programming with AI alone

AWS Codewhisperer is an AI-based programming tool, but it only provides coding assistance and security checks, and AWS Codewhisperer cannot program by itself.

However, if you use the function that automatically generates code from comment-outs, you can simply specify the programming logic in the comment-outs and finish the program with almost no coding.

AWS Codewhisperer Pricing Plans

The most attractive feature of AWS Codewhisperer is that it has a free plan. Here is a comparison of the differences between the free and paid plans.

Two plans of AWS Codewhisperer and their differences

As of 2023, AWS Codewhisperer has two plans: the free plan "Individual" for individual accounts and the paid plan "Professional" ($19/month) for professionals.

|Item|Personal Plan|Business Plan| |:---|:---:|:---:|:---:| |Monthly Fee|Free|$19/month| |Use of editor plugin|◎|◎| |Comment-out-to-code|◎|◎| |Security Scan|50 times/month|500 times/month| |Block proposals that match public code|◎|◎| |License Management|-|◎| |Organization-wide policy management|-|◎|

Basic features are covered in the free plan, but the major ones are the security scan usage limit and account management features.

The free plan offers 50 security scans per month, which is close to a "trial" number, but the paid Pro plan offers 500 per month, which is a practical number.

Also, account management is based on a single authorization using the new AWS Builder ID for the free plan, but the pro plan allows detailed authorization management using the traditional AWS IAM.

Can I use AWS Codewhisperer for free?

AWS Codewhisperer is free to use for individuals.

You don't need to register your credit card information, and you can use the coding support AI with only an email address authentication, so it is the best choice for those who want to try the coding support AI casually.