Best for: Developers and teams already on GitHub who want AI in every IDE they use
The pragmatic pick for teams on GitHub. Pro at $10 is the best value in AI coding; power users will still prefer Cursor's agent.
- Who it's forDevelopers, Small and mid-size businesses, Enterprises
- Not ideal forDevelopers who want the most aggressive agentic editing experience
- Price from$10/mo · free plan
- In category#2 of 3 in Coding · category median $20/mo
What is GitHub Copilot?
com itself. Inline suggestions complete lines and whole functions; Copilot Chat explains code, writes tests and refactors; Agent mode takes a task, edits files across the project and runs the build until it passes.
The coding agent goes further by working asynchronously on an assigned issue and opening a pull request for review. Copilot also reviews pull requests, summarizes changes and suggests fixes for failing CI.
You choose between models from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google, and enterprise administrators get policy controls, audit logs and IP indemnity. It is the most widely deployed coding assistant and the safest choice for organizations already standardized on GitHub.
Made by GitHub (Microsoft)San Francisco, USAFounded 2008Launched Jun 2022
GitHub Copilot key features
Inline completions
Context-aware suggestions across dozens of languages, with next-edit predictions.
Agent mode
Multi-file edits with terminal access and self-correction inside the IDE.
Coding agent
Assign a GitHub issue to Copilot and get a pull request back.
Code review
Automated review comments and summaries on pull requests.
Multi-model
Pick GPT, Claude or Gemini models per conversation.
Enterprise controls
Policy management, audit logs, content exclusions and IP indemnity.
GitHub Copilot pricing and plans
Free
Free
- 2,000 completions
- 50 premium requests
- Chat in IDE
Pro
$10/month
- Unlimited completions
- 300 premium requests
- Coding agent
- Model choice
Pro+
$39/month
- 1,500 premium requests
- All models
- Priority access
Business
$19/month
- Per user
- Policy management
- Audit logs
- IP indemnity
Pricing checked on August 25, 2026.See GitHub Copilot's pricing page
GitHub Copilot pros and cons
Pros
- Works in every major IDE
- Cheapest Pro plan among top assistants
- Deep integration with GitHub issues and PRs
Cons
- Premium request limits are easy to exhaust on agent tasks
- Agent mode lags Cursor on complex refactors
- Free tier is small
GitHub Copilot platforms, API and integrations
Is GitHub Copilot secure? Privacy, compliance and support
Data privacy
- Does not train on user data
- Retention: Prompts not retained for Business and Enterprise
Compliance
- SOC 2
- GDPR
- ISO 27001
Team features
- SSO: yes
- Team workspace: yes
Who is GitHub Copilot best for?
Developers and teams already on GitHub who want AI in every IDE they use. GitHub Copilot targets developers, small and mid-size businesses, enterprises, students.
Use cases
- Write code faster
- Review pull requests
Categories
Best GitHub Copilot alternatives
Compare all alternatives
Cursor
Coding8.6AI-native code editor with agent mode, multi-file edits and codebase-aware chat
- Price
- $20/mo
- Free plan
- Yes
- API
- No
Claude
Chatbots & agents8.3Anthropic's assistant for writing, analysis and agentic coding
- Price
- $20/mo
- Free plan
- Yes
- API
- Yes
ChatGPT
Chatbots & agents8.7OpenAI's general-purpose assistant for writing, analysis, images and code
- Price
- $20/mo
- Free plan
- Yes
- API
- Yes
GitHub Copilot FAQ
Is GitHub Copilot free?
There is a free tier with 2,000 completions and 50 premium requests per month. Students and teachers get Pro for free.
Which IDEs support Copilot?
VS Code, Visual Studio, all JetBrains IDEs, Neovim, Xcode, Eclipse and the GitHub CLI.
Does Copilot review pull requests?
Yes. Copilot code review posts suggestions and summaries on pull requests on GitHub.com.
How much does GitHub Copilot cost?
GitHub Copilot paid plans start at $10/mo (Pro). A free plan is available. Prices checked on August 25, 2026.