GitHub Copilot
About
GitHub Copilot is an AI pair programmer made by GitHub, the code-hosting platform owned by Microsoft. It entered preview in 2021 and became generally available in June 2022, making it one of the first widely used AI coding tools.
Developers use Copilot for inline code suggestions, chat about their codebase, generating tests and documentation, reviewing pull requests and handing off tasks to coding agents. It works inside editors such as VS Code, Visual Studio and JetBrains IDEs, in the terminal and on github.com.
As of October 2026, Copilot has a Free tier, Pro at $10 a month, Pro+ at $39 a month and a higher Max plan for individuals, plus Business and Enterprise plans for organisations. Since June 1, 2026, premium features run on usage-based AI credits included with each plan, while code completions remain unlimited on paid plans. Verified students, teachers and popular open-source maintainers can get Pro free.
Features and integrations
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Code Completions: Suggests the next lines or whole functions as you type, and completions remain unlimited on paid plans.
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Copilot Chat: Answers questions about your code, explains errors and suggests fixes in the editor, on github.com and in GitHub Mobile.
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Agent Mode and Coding Agent: Copilot can make multi-file changes in your editor or work on an assigned GitHub issue in the background and open a pull request.
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Code Review: Copilot can review pull requests and leave suggested changes, helping teams catch issues before merging.
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Model Choice: Users can choose between models from several providers, including OpenAI, Anthropic and Google, for chat and agent tasks.
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Wide Editor Support: Works in VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains IDEs, Xcode, the command line and other environments developers already use.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Low entry price: Pro at $10 a month is one of the cheapest paid AI coding plans from a major vendor.
- Deep GitHub integration: Copilot connects directly to issues, pull requests and repositories on GitHub.
- Works in your existing editor: Developers do not need to switch to a new code editor to use it.
- Free for many users: Students, teachers and popular open-source maintainers can get Pro at no cost.
Cons
- Usage-based billing adds complexity: Since June 2026, heavy agent use consumes AI credits, so costs can rise beyond the base price.
- Less autonomous than some rivals: Some developers find AI-first editors such as Cursor more capable for large multi-file changes.
- Suggestions still need review: Generated code can contain bugs or security issues, so it must be tested and reviewed.
Founder
Tom Preston-Werner, Chris Wanstrath, PJ Hyett and Scott Chacon
Founder, GitHub (Microsoft)
GitHub was founded in 2008 by Tom Preston-Werner, Chris Wanstrath, PJ Hyett and Scott Chacon. Microsoft acquired GitHub in 2018, and GitHub launched Copilot in 2021 using AI models developed with OpenAI.
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Last updated October 5, 2026