GitHub Copilot

1:30 GitHub Copilot is the AI coding assistant from GitHub (owned by Microsoft). As of Nov 6, 2026 it is free with 2,000 code completions a month, $10 a month for Pro, $39 for Pro+ and $100 for Max, and $19 or $39 a seat for Business and Enterprise. Since Jun 1, 2026, chat and agent use draw on GitHub AI Credits priced at each model's API rate, while completions stay unlimited on paid plans. Its strength is living where code already is: the editor, the pull request and the issue.

Copilot fits teams on GitHub who want one bill for many models, including Anthropic's, OpenAI's, Google's and xAI's. Pick an agent-first editor such as Cursor or Windsurf if you want the whole window built around agents, or Claude Code or Codex if you mostly work in a terminal. See Best AI Coding Agent.

Quick facts

Plans and prices

Source: GitHub Copilot plans and GitHub Docs, plans for Copilot, read Nov 6, 2026. Extra use is pay as you go at $0.01 a credit up to a budget you set. The two pages differ on Pro: the plans page lists third-party agents from Pro+ up, while the docs table includes them on Pro.

AI Credits replaced premium requests

GitHub announced on Apr 27, 2026 that premium requests would give way to AI Credits on Jun 1, 2026. Credits are spent by tokens (input, output and cached) at each model's published API price, so a long agent session on a large model costs more than a quick chat. Running out no longer drops you to a cheaper model; your budget decides. Code completions and Next Edit suggestions stay included and use no credits. Plan prices did not change. Annual Pro and Pro+ subscribers keep the old premium request billing until their plan ends.

Features

Code completion and Next Edit suggestions. Copilot's original feature, unlimited on paid plans and 2,000 a month on Free.

0:00 Agent mode and MCP. Copilot chat can act as an agent in your editor, editing files and running commands, and connect to Model Context Protocol servers; GitHub's docs list both on every plan, Free included.

0:20 Copilot coding agent. Assign an issue to Copilot and it works in the cloud and opens a pull request for review. It is included from Pro up and for students.

3:07 The GitHub Copilot app. A desktop app for running Copilot's agents, which GitHub showed in a Jul 21, 2026 video: several sessions run at once, each in its own git worktree, and a session explores the project, writes the code and runs the tests. A browser canvas opens the app being built inside the Copilot app, and Pick & Polish lets you point at an element on the page and ask for a change.

5:20 Agent merge. In the same video, the Copilot app's agent merge created the pull request, then watched it through continuous integration, with options to address reviews, fix CI failures, resolve conflicts and merge the pull request once the checks pass.

Agent HQ. GitHub's place for other companies' agents, announced in Oct 2025. Anthropic's Claude and OpenAI's Codex arrived as coding agents in public preview on Feb 4, 2026: you can assign the same issue to Copilot, Claude and Codex and compare their pull requests. Model choice for those agents followed on Apr 14, 2026, and automatic security validation of their work became generally available on Jun 9, 2026.

Code review. Copilot reviews pull requests on Student and paid plans; on Free it reviews only a selection in VS Code. Reviews also use GitHub Actions minutes.

Models

On Nov 6, 2026 the plans page listed the same 35 models for every plan, among them Claude Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5.5 and Fable 5.1; GPT-6.1 Sol, GPT-6 Astra and GPT-5.3-Codex; Gemini 4 Argon; Grok 4.7; Kimi K3; and Microsoft's MAI-Code-1.1-Flash. On Free the page highlights Haiku 4.5 and GPT-5 mini, and it names Opus among the premium models of Pro+ and Max. Since every request is priced at its model's API rate, a bigger model empties a plan's credits faster.

GitHub Copilot vs the alternatives

• Cursor: a whole editor built around agents, owned by SpaceX since Aug 2026; OpenAI has said its models leave Cursor on Nov 12, 2026.
• Claude Code: Anthropic's agent, strongest when you want Claude models working for a long time in a terminal or desktop app; included in Claude Pro at $20 a month.
• Codex: OpenAI's agent, included in every ChatGPT plan from Free up.
• Windsurf: now Devin Desktop, Cognition's agent-first editor with Pro at $20 a month.
• JetBrains AI: if you work in IntelliJ, PyCharm and the other JetBrains IDEs and want their own assistant.

Frequently asked questions

Is GitHub Copilot free? Yes. Copilot Free costs nothing and includes 2,000 completions a month plus a limited allowance for chat and agent mode; verified students get Copilot Student free.

How much does GitHub Copilot Pro cost? $10 a month as of Nov 6, 2026, with 1,500 GitHub AI Credits (worth $15 at $0.01 each) and unlimited completions. Pro+ is $39 with 7,000 credits.

What are GitHub AI Credits? The unit Copilot has billed chat and agent use in since Jun 1, 2026, replacing premium requests. One credit is $0.01, and each request costs what its tokens cost at the model's API price.

Does GitHub Copilot include Claude? Yes. Copilot lists Claude models for every plan, and Anthropic's Claude agent can take issues through Agent HQ.

Copilot or Cursor? Copilot plugs into your editor and GitHub and starts at $10; Cursor is a separate editor designed around agents and starts at $8 for its own models only.

Sources

• GitHub Copilot plans, GitHub, read Nov 6, 2026
• Plans for GitHub Copilot, GitHub Docs, read Nov 6, 2026
• GitHub Copilot is moving to usage-based billing, GitHub Blog, Apr 27, 2026
• Meet the GitHub Copilot app: Your new AI desktop assistant, GitHub, Jul 21, 2026 (video)
• Introducing the GitHub Copilot coding agent, GitHub, May 19, 2025 (video)
• Introducing Agent HQ: Any agent, any way you work, GitHub Blog, Oct 2025
• Claude and Codex are now available in public preview on GitHub, GitHub Changelog, Feb 4, 2026
• Model selection for Claude and Codex agents on github.com, GitHub Changelog, Apr 14, 2026
• Security validation for third-party coding agents, GitHub Changelog, Jun 9, 2026