GitHub Copilot
4.5 / 5The AI pair programmer, embedded everywhere you already code.
How we rated it
4.5
out of 5
Weighted score: features & compliance (25% each), ease of use & value (20% each), support (10%).
- Features & depthBreadth and quality of capabilities4.3
- Compliance & securityData handling, certifications, privacy posture4.5
- Ease of useHow intuitive and frictionless the tool is4.7
- Value for moneyPricing vs. what you get4.4
- Support & reliabilityUptime, support quality, vendor responsiveness4.6
Key facts
- Starting price
- $10/month
- Pricing model
- Tiered
- Free tier
- Yes
- Free trial
- No
- SOC 2
- Type II certified
- Trains on user data
- No
- Launched
- 2021
- Platforms
- Vs-code, Visual-studio, Jetbrains, Neovim, Web
- HQ
- San Francisco, USA
- Last updated
- July 2026
About GitHub Copilot
GitHub Copilot is the most widely deployed AI coding assistant, built by GitHub and Microsoft on top of OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google models. It provides inline code completion, a chat interface for explaining and debugging code, and an agent mode that can autonomously edit files and run terminal commands to complete multi-step tasks.
Its defining strength is reach: Copilot runs inside VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains IDEs, Neovim, Vim, and directly on GitHub.com, where it writes pull-request descriptions, suggests code-review changes, and helps triage issues. For teams already living inside GitHub, it is the lowest-friction way to roll AI assistance out across a whole engineering org.
Copilot offers a genuinely useful free tier, a $10/month Pro plan, and Business and Enterprise tiers that add centralized policy controls, content exclusion, a data-processing agreement, and intellectual-property indemnity. On paid business tiers, your code is not used to train models.
Pricing breakdown
Free
Free
per month
- Limited completions per month
- Limited Copilot Chat messages
- Access across supported IDEs
Pro
$10/mo
$100/mo billed annually
per month
- Unlimited completions
- Copilot Chat
- Agent mode
- Access to multiple frontier models
Business
$19/mo
per user/month
- Centralized policy management
- Content exclusion
- Data-processing agreement
- IP indemnity
- No training on your code
Enterprise
$39/mo
per user/month
- GitHub Enterprise Cloud integration
- Larger model usage allowance
- Fine-grained admin controls
All features
Inline code completion across VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains, Neovim, and Vim
Agent mode that edits files and runs terminal commands to complete tasks
Copilot Chat for code explanation, debugging, and refactoring
GitHub-native PR descriptions, code-review suggestions, and issue help
Access to multiple models (GPT, Claude, Gemini) on paid plans
Model Context Protocol (MCP) support for connecting external tools
IP indemnity and content exclusion on Business and Enterprise tiers
Integrations
| Integration | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| VS Code | Native | — |
| Visual Studio | Native | — |
| JetBrains IDEs | Native | — |
| Neovim | Native | — |
| GitHub.com | Native | — |
Pros and cons
What it does well
- The broadest IDE and editor support of any AI coding tool
- Free tier is genuinely useful for students and casual developers
- Deep GitHub integration — PRs, code review, and issues — is unmatched
- Business and Enterprise tiers include IP indemnity, which matters to corporate legal teams
Limitations
- Agent mode is less codebase-aware than Cursor's or Windsurf's equivalents
- Higher-tier model usage is metered, so heavy use can run into allowance limits
- On Free and Pro tiers, your code may be used to improve the service unless you opt out
- It augments your existing editor rather than rethinking the editing experience
In-depth reviews
Alternatives to GitHub Copilot
Cursor
4.4 / 5
The most capable AI IDE available — Composer and Tab set the bar for codebase-aware editing — but it's VS Code-only and its usage allowance needs managing.
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Windsurf
4.4 / 5
The best-value AI IDE — Cascade's autonomous agent and a genuinely generous free tier deliver most of Cursor's power for less, with slightly less fine-grained control.
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Claude Code
4.4 / 5
The most capable terminal-native coding agent — top-tier reasoning and a huge context window make it excellent for large-codebase and architectural work, at the cost of a terminal-first learning curve.
View profileThe verdict
The safest default AI coding assistant — unmatched IDE reach and GitHub integration — but its agent mode trails the dedicated AI IDEs on deep codebase work.
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