GitHub Copilot Overview
GitHub Copilot is an AI coding assistant that works inside your editor. It suggests code as you type, answers questions about your codebase in chat, and (on paid plans) can autonomously complete multi-step coding tasks in agent mode. It's available free for individual developers and scales up to enterprise with admin controls and policy management.
Plans & Pricing
| Plan | Price | What You Get |
|---|---|---|
| Copilot Free | Free | 2,000 code completions/month, 50 chat messages/month, VS Code + JetBrains only |
| Copilot Pro | $10 / mo | Unlimited completions, unlimited chat, all IDEs, access to multiple models (GPT-4o, Claude, Gemini), agent mode |
| Copilot Business | $19 / seat / mo | Everything in Pro + org-level policy management, IP indemnity, audit logs, SAML SSO, exclude files from Copilot |
| Copilot Enterprise | $39 / seat / mo | Everything in Business + Copilot on GitHub.com (PR summaries, code review AI), knowledge bases from your org's repos, fine-tuned models |
June 2026: AI Credits Billing Change
Starting June 1, 2026, GitHub is transitioning Copilot to a usage-based AI Credits billing system. Key changes:
- Each AI interaction (completion, chat message, agent step) consumes credits based on the model and task type used
- Paid plan sign-ups were paused in April 2026 ahead of the transition
- Existing subscribers are being migrated to the new model with credit allocations based on their previous plan tier
- Premium model usage (o3, Claude Opus) will cost more credits than standard model usage (GPT-4o)
- Free tier will continue but with a monthly credit cap rather than separate completion/chat limits
The shift makes Copilot pricing model-aware — using a more capable model for a task costs proportionally more. Most normal usage patterns are not expected to exceed the included credit allocations.
Supported IDEs
VS Code
Primary IDE — deepest integration, all features
Visual Studio
Windows only, completions + chat
JetBrains IDEs
IntelliJ, PyCharm, WebStorm, etc.
Neovim
Plugin via GitHub CLI
Xcode
Beta — completions only
GitHub.com
Enterprise only — PR summaries, code review
Model Choice
Unlike Microsoft Copilot (the standalone chat), GitHub Copilot lets users select which AI model powers their experience. Available models on Pro/Business/Enterprise:
- GPT-4o — default for most completions and chat
- Claude 3.5 / 3.7 Sonnet — available for chat, strong on code reasoning
- Gemini 1.5 Pro — available for chat
- o3 / o4-mini — available for complex reasoning tasks (higher credit cost)
- GPT-4.1 — available for large context tasks
Model availability evolves rapidly. The GitHub Copilot settings panel in VS Code shows currently available models for your plan.
Who It's For
- Individual devs: Free tier is enough to experience completions and chat — upgrade to Pro for unlimited usage and agent mode
- Small teams: Business plan adds IP indemnity and the ability to exclude sensitive files from Copilot context
- Enterprises: Enterprise plan adds Copilot on GitHub.com (PR reviews, knowledge bases indexed from your repos)
Checklist: Do You Understand This?
- Free: 2,000 completions + 50 chat messages/month; Pro ($10): unlimited + agent mode + model choice
- Business ($19/seat): org policies, IP indemnity, audit logs; Enterprise ($39): GitHub.com AI + repo knowledge bases
- June 2026: moving to AI Credits system — premium models cost more credits
- Model selection available on paid plans: GPT-4o, Claude, Gemini, o3 all available in chat
- Supported: VS Code (primary), JetBrains, Neovim, Visual Studio, Xcode (beta)