Sourcegraph Amp Trial
Overview
Amp is a coding agent that started as a Sourcegraph product and, since December 2025, has been developed by the independent company Amp Inc., while Sourcegraph continues separately with code search and code understanding (Tessl, Amp). It runs from a CLI, the web, and macOS/iOS apps; threads execute on a developer's machine through runners or in "orbs", sandboxed cloud machines created per thread, and use several frontier models behind a dial of effort modes (Amp manual). The VS Code and Cursor extensions were discontinued in February 2026 and switched off on 5 March 2026 (The Coding Agent Is Dead).
Trial for teams that want agent-first, remote, parallel execution and can absorb frequent product changes. Validate licensing and data handling for your source hosting model, since storage and inference currently run on US infrastructure.
Adoption Signals
- Independent company with continuity of backers: the spinout was announced on 3 December 2025 with Quinn Slack as CEO; Amp says it is already profitable, and Craft, Redpoint, Sequoia, Goldcrest, and Andreessen Horowitz sit on both boards (Tessl).
- Enterprise assurance: SOC 2 Type II certification, annual pentesting of clients, backend, and infrastructure, and a published subprocessor list (Amp security).
- Team and enterprise packaging: a no-extra-charge Teams tier that includes SAML/OIDC SSO once at least one member is on a paid tier (Free Agent), and an Enterprise tier with SCIM, spend limits, audit logs, network/MCP access controls, IP allowlisting, and regional endpoints (Amp pricing).
- Lower cost of entry since 13 September 2026: Amp is free when teams bring their own compute and model subscriptions or keys, with no BYOK token fees outside the Enterprise tier and orbs billed separately (Free Agent).
- High release cadence: the changelog shows multiple releases per week through September 2026, including shared runners, Git worktree support, and MCP in orbs (Amp news).
Risks
- Deliberate feature removal. Amp Tab ended in January 2026 (Tab, Tab, Dead), the editor extensions were switched off on 5 March 2026 after a February announcement (The Coding Agent Is Dead), and the npm packages were renamed from
@sourcegraph/ampto@ampcode/cli, with the old names scheduled for removal on 15 June 2026 (npm Package Changes). Internal docs, CI scripts, and training go stale quickly. - US data location. Threads, including partial code, are stored on Google Cloud in the US, model calls go to US servers of several providers, and e2b sees code data when orbs are used (Amp security).
- Consumer terms through personal subscriptions. When a personal ChatGPT or Grok subscription is linked, that provider's consumer terms and data controls apply and Amp cannot change them (Amp security).
- Thread visibility on joining a workspace. Personal threads created with the same account become visible to all workspace members unless marked private (Amp security), which can leak client code across contexts.
- Remote execution with secrets. Runners now have access to secrets and orbs can connect to MCP servers (Amp news); OIDC workload identity for orbs exists but has to be configured to keep credentials short-lived.
Pros & Cons
Advantages
- Amp routes work across several frontier models through a small set of modes, and since September 2026 it can be used without Amp token fees (outside the Enterprise tier) when teams bring their own model keys, ChatGPT subscription, or compute.
- Orbs give each thread its own sandboxed cloud machine with the repository cloned, so agents can run in parallel and keep working after the laptop is closed; runners on company machines are free.
- Security basics are in place: SOC 2 Type II with annual pentests, no model training on customer data unless opted in (never on Enterprise), SSO on the Teams tier, and SCIM, audit logs, and network/MCP access controls on Enterprise.
Disadvantages
- Product churn is a stated policy ("No backward compatibility, no legacy features"): Amp removed Amp Tab, its VS Code and Cursor extensions, and public threads within the first half of 2026 and renamed its npm packages.
- Thread data is stored on Google Cloud in the US and inference runs on US-based servers of Anthropic, OpenAI, and other providers, with regional endpoints only on the Enterprise tier, which adds transfer-assessment work for EU teams.
- The December 2025 spinout separated Amp from Sourcegraph's code search business, so Amp is now a young standalone vendor and cross-repository code intelligence at Sourcegraph scale has to be evaluated separately.
Recommendation
Trial Amp with one team on real but non-critical repositories, measured against the incumbent agent (Claude Code and Cursor are both Adopt on this radar) on cycle time, review effort, and cost per merged change. Set up an Enterprise or Teams workspace with SSO first, use company-owned model provider accounts through BYOK so that retention is governed by company contracts, prohibit linking personal ChatGPT or Grok subscriptions, and configure OIDC-scoped secrets before enabling orbs.
Plan for change: pin CLI versions in CI, keep agent guidance in portable files such as AGENTS.md and skills rather than Amp-only features, and review the changelog monthly. Repositories with personal or regulated data should stay out of the trial until an Enterprise contract confirms regional endpoints and the DPA covers the listed subprocessors.
Sources
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