GitHub Copilot

GitHub Copilot is an AI coding assistant from GitHub that helps developers write, understand and ship software. It works inside popular editors and on GitHub itself, so it can use the context of your repositories, issues and pull requests.

Copilot started as code completion and now covers two broad modes: assistive help, where it suggests code and answers questions that you review, and agentic work, where it researches a repository, proposes a plan, edits files, runs tools and reviews pull requests.

Key features

• Code completion and next edit suggestions. Inline suggestions appear as you type, and next edit suggestions predict the change you are likely to make next.
• Chat and agent mode. Ask questions about code, or let agent mode carry out multi-step tasks in your editor.
• Cloud agent. Paid plans can delegate tasks to Copilot to work on in the cloud and return the result for review.
• Copilot code review. Copilot can review pull requests and point out issues before merge.
• Customisation. Custom instructions, prompt files, custom agents and agent skills let teams tailor how Copilot responds.
• MCP and bring your own key. MCP servers connect external tools, and supported editors allow using your own model key.
• Third-party agents. Pro+ and Max can delegate tasks to third-party coding agents such as Claude by Anthropic.

Who it is for

Copilot fits individual developers who want help inside the editor they already use, students and educators (eligible users get free premium access), and companies that already use GitHub and want an assistant managed with organisation policies and licence management. Because it supports VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains IDEs, Eclipse, Xcode and Neovim, mixed teams can use it without changing editors.

Pricing at a glance

Free costs $0 and includes 2,000 inline suggestions a month and limited chat and agent use, without code review. Pro costs $10 per month with unlimited inline suggestions, chat, code review, the cloud agent and $15 of monthly AI credits. Pro+ costs $39 per month with $70 of monthly AI credits and access to third-party coding agents. Max costs $100 per month with $200 of monthly AI credits. Business and Enterprise are for organisations and are quoted through GitHub sales; Business adds licence management and policy controls, and Enterprise adds GitHub.com integration, codebase indexing, custom model fine-tuning and IP indemnity. Prices as checked on 7 October 2026; confirm on the vendor's pricing page.

Things to consider

• The free plan caps inline suggestions at 2,000 a month and limits chat and agent use.
• Paid plans use monthly AI credits; heavier agent or premium model use draws them down faster.
• Feature support differs by editor: VS Code and Visual Studio get the broadest set, while Neovim supports code completion only.
• IP indemnity is listed for Enterprise, not for Business.

Getting started

1. Sign in to GitHub and turn on Copilot Free, or choose a plan on the plans page.
2. Install the Copilot extension for your editor and sign in.
3. Try inline suggestions and chat on a small task, then try agent mode.
4. Add custom instructions for your repository. The Copilot documentation covers each feature.