Last updated: 2026-09-26
GitHub Copilot is an AI coding assistant that GitHub, a Microsoft subsidiary, shipped as a technical preview on June 29, 2021. It suggests code completions, runs an autonomous agent mode across a repository, and reviews pull requests, drawing on models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google inside editors like VS Code, JetBrains, Visual Studio, Xcode, Neovim, and Eclipse.
About GitHub Copilot
Built by GitHub, a Microsoft subsidiary since 2018, GitHub Copilot suggests code completions, answers questions in chat, and runs autonomous coding agents inside a developer's own editor. It first shipped as a preview on June 29, 2021 alongside OpenAI's Codex model and reached general availability roughly a year later. The problem it solves is the gap between reading documentation and writing working code: Copilot reads the surrounding file and repository for context and returns a completion, an explanation, or a whole pull request instead. GitHub says the tool is used by millions of individual developers and tens of thousands of business customers.
Copilot is model-agnostic rather than tied to one vendor: as of September 2026 its model picker offers GPT-5.5 and GPT-5.3 Codex from OpenAI, Claude Sonnet 5 and Claude Opus 4.8 from Anthropic, and Gemini 3.1 Pro and Gemini 3 Flash from Google, so a team can switch models per task without switching tools, a decision the how to choose an LLM and Which Claude Model Should You Use? guides cover in more depth. Agent mode goes further: given a task, it edits multiple files, runs terminal commands, reads the output, and iterates on its own errors until the change is done, and a separate cloud coding agent can pick up a GitHub issue and open a draft pull request in the background over GitHub Actions. Copilot code review, which became agentic in early March 2026, leaves inline comments on logic, security, and style directly on a pull request and now supports Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers so a review or chat session can reach a team's own internal tools.
It fits developers who already live inside VS Code, JetBrains IDEs, Visual Studio, Xcode, Neovim, or Eclipse, since Copilot reaches more editors than any competing assistant, plus a 2026 desktop app that runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux and gives one person a control center for steering several agents across different repositories at once. Individual contributors use it for completions, boilerplate, tests, and commit messages, while engineering leads use Business and Enterprise seats to standardize AI usage and enforce security policy across a whole organization; the Best AI Coding Assistants in 2026 guide compares it against the rest of the category by job rather than by brand.
GitHub's governance profile matters for procurement: it publishes a SOC 2 Type 2 report and an ISO/IEC 27001 certificate that both cover Copilot Business and Enterprise, plus a GDPR Data Protection Agreement with Standard Contractual Clauses, putting it alongside HokAI's list of SOC 2 compliant AI tools. Business and Enterprise interaction data stays out of model training by default. Starting April 24, 2026, GitHub began using Free, Pro, and Pro+ interaction data, including inputs, outputs, and code context, to train its models unless the individual user opts out in Copilot's privacy settings.
Pricing
Free costs $0 and gives every account 2,000 code completions plus 50 chat or agent requests a month. Individual paid plans are Pro at $10/month (bundling $15 in AI credits), Pro+ at $39/month ($70 in credits), and Max at $100/month ($200 in credits); code completions and next-edit suggestions stay unlimited on every paid tier and only agent mode, chat, and code review draw down the credit pool. Organizations pay $19 per seat/month for Business (1,900 credits per seat) or $39 per seat/month for Enterprise (3,900 credits per seat).
01, on June 1, 2026. Starting on Free requires nothing beyond a GitHub account, which is why it also appears in HokAI's free-tier AI coding tools list.
| Tier | Monthly price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | |
| Pro | $10/mo | |
| Business | $19/mo | |
| Pro+ | $39/mo | |
| Enterprise | $39/mo | |
| Max | $100/mo |
Key Features
- Agent Mode: Given a single task, Copilot's agent mode edits files across the repo, runs terminal commands, and repairs its own errors until the change is complete, without you directing each step.
- Cloud Coding Agent: Assign a GitHub issue to Copilot's autonomous coding agent and it works in the background over GitHub Actions, opening a draft pull request for review.
- Multi-Model Picker: Swap per task among Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 5 and Opus line, Google's Gemini 3.1 Pro, or OpenAI's newer GPT models, all from one picker built into the editor.
- Agentic Code Review: Click Request Copilot review on any pull request for inline comments on logic, security, and style; the feature turned agentic in early March 2026.
- MCP and Agent Skills: Copilot Chat, code review, and the coding agent connect to Model Context Protocol servers, letting a session pull in your team's own tools and standards directly.
- Broadest IDE Reach: Copilot ships as an extension for VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains IDEs, Xcode, Neovim, and Eclipse, alongside a 2026 desktop app covering macOS, Windows, and Linux.
- Web Search for the Agent: Copilot's coding agent can search the web mid-task to debug unfamiliar errors or check library changes released after its training data.
Pros
- Reaches more editors than most rival assistants: VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains, Xcode, Neovim, and Eclipse, plus a native desktop app for three operating systems.
- Unlimited code completions and next-edit suggestions ship on every paid plan, so heavy typists are never metered on the feature they use most.
- SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001 coverage plus a GDPR Data Protection Agreement make procurement easier to clear than most single-vendor coding assistants.
- Independently verified reviews average 4.5 out of 5 on Capterra (51 reviews) and 4.8 out of 5 on Product Hunt (34 reviews) rather than resting on one review platform.
Cons
- Free, Pro, and Pro+ interaction data trains GitHub's models by default since April 24, 2026, so individual users who want their code excluded must manually opt out in settings.
- Agent mode and the cloud coding agent draw from the same monthly AI-credit pool as chat, so heavy agent users on the cheaper individual plans can exhaust it before the billing cycle resets.
- It struggles with cross-repository context and ambiguous product requirements, staying most reliable on self-contained, well-scoped tickets.
Data Handling
- Training-data policy
- Business and Enterprise interaction data is excluded from model training. Since April 24, 2026, Free, Pro, and Pro+ interaction data (inputs, outputs, code context) trains GitHub models by default unless the user opts out in Copilot privacy settings.
- Compliance
- SOC 2 Type 2 · ISO/IEC 27001:2022 · GDPR DPA
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do you pay for GitHub Copilot?
GitHub Copilot's individual plans are Free ($0), Pro ($10 a month), Pro+ ($39 a month), and Max ($100 a month), while organizations pay $19 per seat a month for Business or $39 per seat for Enterprise. Since June 1, 2026, usage beyond the free tier has drawn from a shared pool priced at a flat $0.01 a unit: Pro bundles $15 worth a month, Pro+ bundles $70, and Max bundles $200, on top of unlimited completions and next-edit suggestions on every paid tier. Business seats get 1,900 of that allowance a month and Enterprise seats get 3,900; the pool covers chat, agent mode, and code review.
Is GitHub Copilot free to use?
Yes: the Free plan gives every GitHub account 2,000 code completions and 50 chat or agent requests a month at no cost and with no credit card required. It limits model choice to smaller options like GPT-5 mini and Claude Haiku 4.5, and once the monthly allowance runs out, completions and chat pause until the next cycle or an upgrade to Pro.
What should you use instead of GitHub Copilot?
Cursor suits developers who want an AI-first editor with deeper codebase-wide context and its own model routing, at roughly twice Copilot's Pro price. Claude Code fits teams who prefer a terminal-first workflow with Anthropic's Claude models driving multi-file agent work rather than an IDE plugin. Teams that need a fully self-hosted, air-gapped deployment instead of a cloud-connected assistant should look at Tabnine.
Is GitHub Copilot better than Cursor?
Neither wins outright. Copilot's Pro plan costs $10 a month, about half of Cursor's Pro plan, and reaches far more editors, including Visual Studio, Xcode, JetBrains, and Eclipse, where Cursor mainly runs inside its own VS Code fork. Cursor still leads on deep, codebase-wide context and multi-file agent edits inside that fork, so teams standardizing across many IDEs tend to pick Copilot while developers who live entirely in one AI-first editor often prefer Cursor.
How long does it take to get going with GitHub Copilot?
Signing up takes a couple of minutes: install the Copilot extension for your editor (VS Code, JetBrains, Visual Studio, Xcode, Neovim, or Eclipse), sign in with a GitHub account, and completions start appearing immediately on the Free plan with no credit card required. Organizations enable Business or Enterprise seats from their GitHub organization's Copilot settings page before assigning them to members.
Top Alternatives
- Cursor: Choose GitHub Copilot when one subscription needs to reach nearly every mainstream IDE; choose Cursor when the deepest single-editor agent experience inside its own VS Code fork matters more.
- Claude Code: Go with GitHub Copilot to keep AI inside the IDE you already use, or with Claude Code if a terminal-first session driven entirely by Anthropic's models fits your workflow better.
- Windsurf: Pick GitHub Copilot for the broadest editor support and per-seat governance controls; pick Windsurf for an AI-first editor built around longer, less-steered autonomous runs.
- Tabnine: Pick GitHub Copilot for the largest model catalog and agent ecosystem; pick Tabnine if a fully self-hosted, air-gapped deployment is a hard requirement.
- Replit: Stay on GitHub Copilot to add AI to the local editor and repos a team already uses; move to Replit when the AI should also host and deploy the finished app.
HokAI guides covering GitHub Copilot
- Cursor Composer 2.5 vs. Claude Code: Which AI Coding Agent Should You Use in 2026?: Cursor Composer 2.5 vs Claude Code on October 2026 pricing: Cursor's new Grok-bundled plans, Claude's 5.5 models, token costs and who should pick which.
- ChatGPT Use Cases in 2026: What It's Actually For Now: ChatGPT gained Space, Pages, team tasks and a Meetings beta at DevDay 2026. Here is each new use case, the plan it needs, and where a specialist wins.
- Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Claude Sonnet 5.5: What Migrating Changes: Sonnet 4.6 is still Active, with no retirement before February 2027. See what breaks, what costs less and what to test before you move up to Sonnet 5.5.
- Best AI Code Review Tools in 2026 (Including Open Source): Compare Greptile, Qodo, CodeRabbit, Copilot, Augment and Bugbot on price per review, self-hosting and open source, using each vendor's own pricing page.
- ChatGPT Plans Compared (2026): Free, Go, Plus, Pro and Business: ChatGPT plans compared on 3 Oct 2026: Free, Go, Plus $20, three Pro plans at $100-$500 and Business seats. Limits, context windows and who should skip each.
- Meta Started Charging for Its AI Agents. The Framework Under Them Just Lost Its Creator to OpenAI: Meta's Business Agent stopped being free on Aug. 1, 2026. Meta AI hit 1.2 billion users, and the framework behind Meta's own agents lost its creator to OpenAI.