Microsoft's AI coding assistant used by 20M+ developers — inline code suggestions, chat, and multi-file edits inside VS Code.
GitHub Copilot is the most widely adopted AI coding tool in the world, now used by over 20 million developers. As a Microsoft product built on OpenAI technology, it benefits from deep VS Code integration and GitHub’s understanding of billions of lines of public code.
The free tier offers 2,000 code completions and 50 chat messages per month — genuinely useful for part-time or occasional coding. Copilot Pro ($10/mo) unlocks unlimited completions, multi-model access (GPT-4o, Claude Sonnet, Gemini), and Copilot Edits for multi-file changes. Business ($19/user/mo) and Enterprise ($39/user/mo) plans add admin controls and IP indemnity.
Key features include inline autocomplete (suggests entire functions as you type), Copilot Chat (ask questions about your code), Copilot Edits (describe a change and watch it applied across files), and GitHub Copilot Workspace (plan and execute tasks from issues). A 2026 study found developers complete tasks 55% faster on average using Copilot.
Pros: Cheapest premium coding AI at $10/mo, works inside VS Code natively, huge training dataset, multi-model support, free tier available.
Cons: Less codebase-aware than Cursor, suggestions can be confidently wrong, requires GitHub account.
Best for: Professional developers, students learning to code, and teams already using GitHub and VS Code.