GitHub Copilot by GitHub (Microsoft)
Overview
AI coding assistant from GitHub offering completions, chat and agent mode in IDEs, a terminal CLI, a desktop app and a cloud agent that works on assigned tasks in the background and opens pull requests. Models from several providers can be selected.
Its VS Code extension has 78.6M installs and average 2.8 out of 5 across 395 marketplace ratings. On public GitHub, 16,838 pull requests were opened from branches with GitHub Copilot's default copilot/ prefix in the week of Sep 28, 2026, and 72% of the pull requests from the four weeks before that were merged. It was mentioned in 75 Hacker News posts and comments over the last 30 days.
Recent developments
- 2026-05-20: The vscode-copilot-chat repository was archived and its code moved into microsoft/vscode.
- 2026: Billing moved to usage-based GitHub AI Credits and a $100/mo Max plan appears in the current plan docs.
GitHub Copilot usage and attention over time
Download the raw daily series: github-copilot.csv
Install GitHub Copilot
| VS Code | code --install-extension GitHub.copilot-chat |
|---|
These commands use the packages tracked on this page. The vendor may recommend a different installer; see the official documentation.
Key facts
| Maker | GitHub (Microsoft) |
|---|---|
| Type | AI coding assistant (IDE agent mode, CLI and cloud agent) |
| First released | June 2021 |
| License | Proprietary |
| Interfaces | IDE plugin, CLI, Web, Mobile, Desktop app, Slack, GitHub |
| Platforms | macOS, Linux, Windows |
| Models | Selectable models from OpenAI, Anthropic and others (Claude Sonnet 5.5 and GPT-6.1 Sol were added in Sept 2026); Pro+ and Max can also delegate tasks to third-party agents such as Claude and OpenAI Codex. |
| Local models | VS Code bring-your-own-model with the Ollama extension (docs) |
| Bring your own API key | Yes |
| JetBrains plugin downloads | 54,714,413 |
Pricing
Free; Pro $10/mo; Pro+ $39/mo; Max $100/mo; Business $19/seat/mo; Enterprise $39/seat/mo; free for verified students. Plans include monthly GitHub AI Credits (Pro 1,500, Pro+ 7,000, Max 20,000 credits) that chat, agent mode, the cloud agent, CLI and code review draw on.
Source: official pricing page, checked Oct 6, 2026. Prices change often; confirm before you buy.
Pulse Score breakdown
Each component is scored 0 to 100 from public signals; a dash means no data for it. Methodology.
Pull requests by GitHub Copilot on GitHub
In the week of Sep 28, 2026, 16,838 pull requests matching GitHub Copilot's signature (head:copilot/) were opened in public repositories; 72% of those opened in the four weeks before were merged. A branch prefix identifies the tool; the pull request itself is usually opened under the developer's own account.
GitHub Copilot alternatives
| # | Agent | Pulse | Downloads 7d | 7d | 30d | VS Code installs | Stars | Latest release | Price | Last 90 days | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 |
CursorAnysphere (owned by SpaceX) |
71 | — | — | — | — | 33.3K+3/day | — | Free + $20/mo | ||
| 19 |
ZedZed Industries |
59 | — | — | — | — | 91.3K+54/day | 1.22.06d ago | Free + $10/mo | ||
| 28 |
WarpWarp |
54 | — | — | — | — | 65.4K+25/day | 0.2026.06.03.…4mo ago | Free + $20/mo | ||
| 36 |
JunieJetBrains |
51 | 318 | down 58.6% | — | — | 469+1/day | 3651.1yesterday | Free + $10/mo | ||
| 44 |
Amazon Q DeveloperAmazon Web Services |
49 | — | — | — | 1.9M | 51 | 2.8.05d ago | Free + $19/mo | ||
| 45 |
KiroAmazon Web Services |
48 | — | — | — | — | 4,353+3/day | — | Free + $20/mo | ||
| No agents match that filter. | |||||||||||
Head to head: GitHub Copilot vs Claude Code · GitHub Copilot vs OpenAI Codex · GitHub Copilot vs Cursor · GitHub Copilot vs Zed · GitHub Copilot vs Warp · GitHub Copilot vs Junie
Guides that cover GitHub Copilot
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GitHub Copilot FAQ
How much does GitHub Copilot cost?
Free; Pro $10/mo; Pro+ $39/mo; Max $100/mo; Business $19/seat/mo; Enterprise $39/seat/mo; free for verified students. Plans include monthly GitHub AI Credits (Pro 1,500, Pro+ 7,000, Max 20,000 credits) that chat, agent mode, the cloud agent, CLI and code review draw on.
Is GitHub Copilot open source?
No. GitHub Copilot is a proprietary product from GitHub (Microsoft).
How popular is GitHub Copilot?
Its VS Code extension has 78.6M installs and average 2.8 out of 5 across 395 marketplace ratings. On public GitHub, 16,838 pull requests were opened from branches with GitHub Copilot's default copilot/ prefix in the week of Sep 28, 2026, and 72% of the pull requests from the four weeks before that were merged. It was mentioned in 75 Hacker News posts and comments over the last 30 days.
What are the alternatives to GitHub Copilot?
The closest alternatives in the same category by Pulse Score are Cursor, Zed, Warp, Junie.
Where these numbers come from
VS Code Marketplace: GitHub.copilot-chat. Wikipedia: GitHub Copilot. See data sources for how each one is collected.
Product facts and pricing were checked against: github.com, docs.github.com, github.blog, githubstatus.com, registry.npmjs.org, formulae.brew.sh, marketplace.visualstudio.com, plugins.jetbrains.com.