GitHub Copilot Freemium

What it is

GitHub Copilot began as code completion and is now an agent platform from GitHub. It works in Visual Studio Code, JetBrains IDEs and other editors, in the terminal through the Copilot CLI, in the GitHub Copilot app, and on github.com, where the Copilot cloud agent can take an issue, work in the background and open a pull request. Copilot code review can also review pull requests automatically.

Key features

• Code completions in the editor (2,000 a month on Free, unlimited on paid plans)
• Agent mode in VS Code and JetBrains IDEs for multi-file changes
• Copilot cloud agent that turns issues into pull requests
• Copilot code review on pull requests
• Copilot CLI for terminal work
• A choice of models, and third-party agents on Pro and above

Skills, subagents and MCP

Copilot supports MCP on all individual plans. Agent Skills work in the cloud agent, code review, the CLI, the Copilot app and agent mode in VS Code and JetBrains. Project skills can live in .github/skills, .claude/skills or .agents/skills, and personal skills in ~/.copilot/skills or ~/.agents/skills, so skills written for Claude Code or other tools can be reused. Repository instructions go in .github/copilot-instructions.md, and Copilot also reads AGENTS.md files anywhere in the repository, with the nearest one taking precedence.

Pricing

At the time of writing (September 2026), individual plans are: Free ($0) with 2,000 completions a month and the CLI; Pro at $10 per month with unlimited completions, $15 of monthly credits, the cloud agent and code review; Pro+ at $39 per month with $70 of credits; and Max at $100 per month with $200 of credits. Business and Enterprise are priced through sales. Verified students get the Copilot Student plan free, and verified teachers and maintainers of popular open-source projects may qualify for free Copilot Pro.

Who it is for

Developers who want AI inside the editor they already use, teams whose work lives on GitHub, and students and open-source maintainers who qualify for free access.

Verdict

Copilot is the easiest agent to adopt for GitHub-centred teams, and its support for shared skill folders and AGENTS.md makes it a good citizen in mixed-tool setups. Credit-based limits across plans take some effort to understand, and its strongest features depend on GitHub.