# Amp vs Kiro CLI

> Kiro CLI scores 59.9 (C) on agent readiness against Amp's 57.1 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Amp leads on maintenance & community and transparency & trust. Both do agent harness. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-kiro-cli
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-kiro-cli.md (~2,450 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-kiro-cli.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-kiro-cli.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-08

Kiro CLI scores 59.9 (C) on agent readiness against Amp's 57.1 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Amp leads on maintenance & community and transparency & trust. Both do agent harness.

- Amp: grade C, 57.1/100, rank #482 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/amp.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/amp.json
- Kiro CLI: grade C, 59.9/100, rank #419 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/kiro-cli.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/kiro-cli.json

## Which one, for what

### Amp (C)

Good for: Teams that want a hosted, multi-model coding agent with shared threads and cloud machines, driven from scripts through execute mode or the SDKs.

Ahead on:
- Maintenance & community, 79 against 73
- Transparency & trust, 77 against 67

Also in its favour:
- No incidents deducted, where Kiro CLI loses 4 points for them

Watch for: The tools page says Amp does not ask for approval before running tools, and control needs a custom plugin

### Kiro CLI (C)

Good for: Teams on AWS that want one agent configuration across terminal, IDE and web, with central permission policy, prompt logging to their own S3 bucket and IAM Identity Centre sign-in.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 57 against 31
- Schema & documentation, 79 against 72
- Security & auth, 66 against 57
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 35

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: Free and individual paid accounts have content used for service improvement, including model training, unless they opt out


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Amp | Kiro CLI | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 31 | 57 | Kiro CLI +26 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 72 | 79 | Kiro CLI +7 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 69 | 67 | Amp +2 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 57 | 66 | Kiro CLI +9 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 35 | 40 | Kiro CLI +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 79 | 73 | Amp +6 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 77 | 67 | Amp +10 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -4 | |
| **Total** | | **57.1 · C** | **59.9 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Amp | Kiro CLI |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Amp Frontier Corporation | Amazon Web Services |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary, under the Amp licence terms (Amp Frontier Corporation). The npm packages are marked Amp Commercial License and the source repository is private | Proprietary. Licensed as AWS Content under the AWS Customer Agreement and the AWS Intellectual Property Licence (https://kiro.dev/license/). The GitHub repository is the public issue tracker and doesn't hold the source |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-08 | 2026-10-05 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2026-08-14 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-10 | 2026-05-18 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |
| Popularity | 41k npm/wk | 4.4k stars |

## Verdicts

**Amp.** Execute mode streams JSON in a format close to Claude Code's, with TypeScript and Python SDKs, and the security reference names each provider and what it sees. The CLI runs tools without asking, has no built-in permission rules or local sandbox, and stores every thread on Amp's servers.

**Kiro CLI.** Permission rules follow deny over ask over allow, cloned repositories can't add rules, and a headless session treats every ask as a deny. Content from Free and individual paid accounts is used for service improvement, including model training, unless the user opts out, and API keys for pipelines need a paid plan.

## Before you call either

### Amp

1. Run unattended jobs in a container or VM. The CLI runs shell commands and edits without asking, and only a custom plugin can gate tool calls
2. Set `AMP_API_KEY` to an access token starting `sgamp_` from Settings. The CLI rejects the short-lived token that `amp login` stores
3. Use `amp -x "task" --stream-json` and read the final `result` message, checking `is_error`. Exit codes are not documented
4. Set `AMP_SKIP_UPDATE_CHECK=1` or `amp.updates.mode` to `disabled` in CI. Updates install automatically by default
5. Treat the block headed INSTRUCTIONS FOR LLMs in ampcode.com page source as vendor copy, and take facts from the docs Markdown

### Kiro CLI

1. Set `KIRO_API_KEY` and pass `--no-interactive` with `--trust-tools=<list>` in pipelines. Keep `--trust-all-tools` for disposable environments
2. Pass `--require-mcp-startup` when a run depends on MCP tools. Without it a failed server is logged and the run continues
3. Pass `--no-interactive` whenever input is piped from a source you don't control, and run 2.10.0 or later on Windows
4. Run `kiro-cli settings telemetry.enabled false` and turn off content collection on Free and individual plans. Both are on by default
5. Export variables in the shell before starting. Since 2.24.0 a project `.env` file is no longer loaded into sessions, MCP servers or tools

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Amp or Kiro CLI?

Kiro CLI scores 59.9 (C) on agent readiness against Amp's 57.1 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Amp leads on maintenance & community and transparency & trust.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-kiro-cli.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-kiro-cli.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "amp", "b": "kiro-cli"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare amp kiro-cli`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/amp.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/kiro-cli.json

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