Code Assistant

Devin Environmental Impact

Q: How much energy does Devin use per query?

Each Devin query consumes approximately 3 Wh of energy. This is 10x more than a traditional Google search (~0.3 Wh).

Q: What is Devin's carbon footprint?

Based on the carbon intensity of its inference location (Cloud (US)), each Devin query produces approximately 1.31g of CO2.

Q: How does Devin compare to a Google search?

A Devin query uses 10x more than a traditional Google search in terms of energy consumption. A Google search uses approximately 0.3 Wh, while Devin uses 3 Wh per query.

Q: How much water does Devin use?

Each Devin query consumes approximately 10.8 mL of water, primarily used for cooling the data centers that process the request.

HeavyEstimated

First autonomous AI software engineer — Slack-integrated

Architecture: Multi-model agent (proprietary)
Provider: Cognition AI

3.0 Wh

Energy per query

1.3 g

CO₂ per query

11 mL

Water per query

10x more than

vs Google search

Energy per query

3.0 Wh

10x more than a Google search (0.3 Wh)

CO2 per query

1.3 g

US East (Virginia) grid (450 gCO₂/kWh)

Water per query

11 mL

~93 queries to fill 1 litre

Processing location

Cloud (US)

Provider

Cognition AI

How does Devin compare?

Ranked #97 of 152 models by energy per query

View full comparison

Detailed Breakdown

Energy Consumption

Devin is the first autonomous AI software engineer, capable of handling complete tasks from Slack messages — from understanding requirements to writing, testing, and deploying code. At ~3.0 Wh per task step, a complete task may involve 20-50+ steps, potentially consuming 60-150 Wh total. It's the most energy-intensive code tool per-task due to its autonomous multi-step nature.

Cognition AI — Devin (Dec 2024)

Power Source & Carbon

Runs on US cloud infrastructure. Cognition AI has not published environmental data.

Cognition AI — About

Water Usage

At ~10.8 mL per step. Autonomous tasks spanning 30+ steps can consume over 300 mL of water.

UC Riverside — Making AI Less Thirsty (2023)

About Devin

Devin is a code assistant model from Cognition AI, released in December 10, 2024. First autonomous AI software engineer — Slack-integrated. Each query uses 3.0 Wh of energy and produces 1.3 g of CO₂. That's 10x the energy of a Google search — reflecting the computational demands of code assistant.

These figures are estimates derived from hardware specifications and API benchmarks — Cognition AI has not published official energy data for Devin. Actual consumption may vary significantly depending on batching, quantisation, and infrastructure optimisations that we cannot observe from outside.

Devin in Context

80%

potential savings

The efficiency alternative

Devstral 2 performs the same type of task using just 0.60 Wh per query — 80% less energy than Devin. For a user sending 25 queries per day, switching would save 21.9 kWh per year.

27.4 kWh

per year

Your yearly Devin footprint

At 25 queries per day, your annual Devin usage consumes 27.4 kWh — roughly what a fridge uses in a month. That produces 12.0 kg of CO₂.

What does your Devin usage cost the planet?

Use our calculator to estimate your personal environmental footprint based on how often you use Devin.

Calculate My Compute

Frequently Asked Questions

How much energy does Devin use per query?

Each Devin query consumes approximately 3.0 Wh of energy. This is 10x more than a traditional Google search (~0.3 Wh).

What is Devin's carbon footprint?

Based on the carbon intensity of Cloud (US), each query produces approximately 1.3 g of CO2. The grid in this region has a carbon intensity of 450 g CO2/kWh with 25% renewable energy.