Best GitHub Copilot Alternatives (2026): Free & Paid

GitHub Copilot alternatives are worth a look if Copilot no longer fits how you code, costs more than you want, or runs out of AI credits too often. In this guide, "Copilot" means GitHub Copilot, the coding assistant from GitHub, not Microsoft's general Copilot chatbot (if you meant that one, see ChatGPT vs Copilot).

I use AI coding tools every day in my own work, and the question I get most is which one to pick instead of Copilot. This guide compares eight alternatives with their real prices, free plans, strengths and weak spots, then ends with quick picks for different kinds of developers. Prices were rechecked on the official pages of GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Devin (Windsurf), Claude, Codex, Google Antigravity, Kiro, Zed and Cline on November 4, 2026. They're in US dollars before tax and change often, so confirm before you pay.

Quick answer: Cursor and Windsurf (now Devin Desktop) are the best Copilot alternatives if you want a full AI editor instead of a plugin. Claude Code (from $20/month with Claude Pro) and Codex (included with ChatGPT) are the best for handing off bigger, multi-file tasks to an agent. Cline and Zed are the best free, open-source options if you bring your own API key, and Google Antigravity has a free tier with unlimited Tab completions. If you mainly want cheap autocomplete inside VS Code or JetBrains, Copilot Pro at $10 is still hard to beat.

GitHub Copilot alternatives at a glance

What GitHub Copilot costs today

Before switching, it helps to know exactly what you're leaving. Copilot now runs on GitHub AI Credits (1 credit = $0.01). Chat, agent mode, code review, Copilot in the cloud, the CLI and the Copilot app use credits; code completions and next edit suggestions don't, and they're unlimited on every paid plan. According to GitHub's plans docs:

GitHub says the flex part of each allowance is variable and may change over time. When you run out, you can set a dollar budget for extra usage (a $10 budget buys 1,000 credits), switch to a cheaper model, or wait for the monthly reset. Verified teachers and maintainers of popular open-source projects may also get Copilot Pro for free.

Why people look for a Copilot alternative

From what I see in developer communities and my own projects, the reasons usually fall into five buckets:

• Credit-based billing. Agent sessions on frontier models eat credits quickly, and it's hard to predict a month's spend.
• Plugin vs editor. Copilot adds AI to your existing editor. Some developers want an editor built around AI instead.
• Agent style. Some people prefer to hand a whole task to an agent in the terminal and review the diff, rather than accept suggestions line by line.
• Model choice and cost. You may already pay for Claude, ChatGPT or Google AI, which include capable coding agents.
• Privacy. On Free, Pro and Pro+, GitHub may use your prompts, suggestions and code snippets to train models unless you opt out.

Knowing which of these applies to you makes the choice much easier.

1. Cursor: best for a full AI editor

Cursor is a standalone code editor built around AI, with agent mode, Tab completions and chat in one place. Since October 2026 it's sold as part of The X Subscription, so each plan also includes Grok chat and X features, with one usage pool shared across Cursor and Grok that refreshes weekly.

Pros

• The whole editor is designed around AI, with cloud agents from Premium
• Most VS Code extensions, themes and keybindings work, because it's a VS Code fork
• Cheapest paid entry point on this list if Grok models suit you

Cons

• Claude, GPT and Gemini models aren't included in the plan allowance; they're billed on top at API list price
• You have to switch editors (no JetBrains or Xcode plugin)

Cursor vs GitHub Copilot

Copilot Pro at $10 includes models from several labs in its credits, while Cursor Plus at $8 only covers Grok and Cursor Premium at $30 bills third-party models on top. Cursor gives you an AI-first editor with cloud agents and Bugbot reviews; Copilot fits into the editor you already use and ties in tightly with GitHub issues and pull requests. Every Cursor tier is broken down in Cursor Pricing 2026, and if you're also considering leaving Cursor, see Cursor alternatives.

2. Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf): best for frontier models in one quota

Cognition renamed Windsurf to Devin Desktop in June 2026. It's the same AI editor with local and cloud agents, now with an Agent Command Center up front.

Pros

• Free plan with unlimited Tab completions, the closest thing to Copilot Free's autocomplete
• Pro includes Claude, GPT and Gemini models in one flat fee
• Usage refreshes daily and weekly

Cons

• Big jump from Pro ($20) to Max ($200)
• The Windsurf-to-Devin rebrand makes docs and support harder to find

If you're weighing it against Cursor, see Windsurf vs Cursor.

3. Claude Code: best for handing off bigger tasks

Claude Code is Anthropic's coding agent. It runs in your terminal and IDE, reads your repository, runs commands and edits across files. It's included in every paid Claude plan: Pro at $20/month ($17/month billed annually), Max at $100/month (5x Pro) and Ultra at $200/month. Chat and coding share one usage pool with five-hour and weekly limits, and there's no free tier for Claude Code. Claude Ultra is not free either; Ultra is the $200 plan, separate from Claude's $0 Free tier.

A typical scenario: you describe a refactor that touches a dozen files, Claude Code plans it, makes the edits and runs your tests, and you review the diff. That's a different rhythm from Copilot's inline suggestions. Many developers keep Copilot for completions and add Claude Code for the heavy lifting.

Pros

• Strong at multi-file tasks you can delegate and review
• One subscription covers Claude chat and Claude Code
• Works alongside any editor, including VS Code and JetBrains

Cons

• No free plan
• Five-hour and weekly limits can interrupt long sessions
• Not an editor, so you still need one

For a direct head-to-head, read Claude vs Copilot. Every plan and API rate is in Claude Code Pricing 2026.

4. Codex: best if you already pay for ChatGPT

Codex is OpenAI's coding agent, available in the ChatGPT desktop app, a CLI, an IDE extension, on the web and in the cloud. It comes with ChatGPT plans:

Pros

• No extra cost if you already pay for ChatGPT Plus
• Tag @codex on a GitHub pull request for a review, or turn on automatic reviews
• CLI source code is published on GitHub

Cons

• Free and Go are limited to light tasks in the desktop app
• Usage is shared with ChatGPT

Comparing the agents directly? See Cursor vs Claude Code vs Codex.

5. Google Antigravity: best for Gemini users (and the Gemini Code Assist replacement)

Many older lists still recommend Gemini Code Assist as a free Copilot alternative. That no longer works for personal accounts: Google says that from June 18, 2026, the Gemini Code Assist IDE extensions and Gemini CLI stopped serving the free individual, Google AI Pro and Google AI Ultra tiers, and points users to Google Antigravity instead. (Paid Gemini Code Assist Standard and Enterprise subscriptions follow a separate schedule.)

Antigravity is Google's agent-first IDE, with a CLI and IDE extensions. There's no separate Antigravity subscription:

• Free: Gemini models including Gemini 3.8 Flash, unlimited Tab completions, all features including the CLI, with a quota that refreshes weekly.
• Google AI Pro (about $20/month): a higher quota that refreshes every five hours until a weekly limit, plus access to Gemini 4 Argon.
• Google AI Ultra ($100 or $200/month): 5x or 20x the Pro rate limit, per Google's plan update, and access to third-party models.

Pros

• Free tier with unlimited Tab completions
• Comes with a Google AI plan you might already have

Cons

• Google doesn't publish exact quota sizes
• No bring-your-own-key option

If you're deciding between Google's and OpenAI's assistants generally, see Gemini vs ChatGPT.

6. Kiro: best for planning before you code

Kiro is an AI IDE from AWS built around spec-driven development: you describe a feature, Kiro turns it into requirements, a design and a task list, then its agent works through the tasks. It also has a CLI and Kiro Web, which share the same credits.

Paid plans can buy add-on credits at $0.04 each. The first time you upgrade to Pro, the rest of that month is free and you get 500 trial credits to use within 12 months. Unused monthly credits don't roll over.

7. Zed: best lightweight, open-source editor

Zed is a fast, open-source code editor written from scratch (not a VS Code fork), with AI built in and real-time collaboration.

• Personal ($0 forever): the full editor, with unlimited AI using your own API keys or external agents like Claude Agent and Codex CLI.
• Pro ($10/month): unlimited edit predictions and $5 of hosted model tokens; extra usage at API list price plus 10%. There's a 14-day free trial.
• Business ($30/seat/month): org-wide AI model policies and data controls.

Zed also supports local models through Ollama and LM Studio, and it can use a GitHub Copilot subscription as a provider, so you can try the editor without giving up Copilot.

8. Cline: best for full cost control

Cline is an open-source coding agent for VS Code, with a CLI. The extension is free for individual developers; you pay only for AI inference, either with your own API keys or at cost through Cline's provider. It supports Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, OpenRouter, AWS Bedrock, GCP Vertex, DeepSeek and many more. A JetBrains extension, SSO and team management come with the Enterprise plan.

The catch: heavy agent use on frontier models can cost more than a flat subscription, so set a spending cap with your API provider. If API keys are new to you, my guide to what an API is explains how they work, and the free AI Token Calculator estimates what a task will cost. Pairing Cline with a low-cost model such as DeepSeek keeps bills very small (see DeepSeek vs ChatGPT for API prices).

Best free GitHub Copilot alternatives

If you don't want to pay anything:

1. Cline with your own API key, or a free model from your provider. You pay only for tokens.
2. Zed Personal. Free forever with your own keys, external agents or local models.
3. Devin Desktop (Windsurf) Free. Unlimited Tab completions and inline edits plus a light agent quota.
4. Google Antigravity Free. Unlimited Tab completions and a weekly agent quota on Gemini models.
5. Cursor Free. Limited agent and chat requests in a full AI editor.
6. Kiro Free. 50 credits a month with open-weight models and Claude Sonnet 4.5.
7. Codex on ChatGPT Free. Light tasks with GPT-6 Luna in the desktop app.

Don't forget Copilot itself: Copilot Free gives 2,000 completions a month, and verified students get Copilot Student at no cost.

Open-source GitHub Copilot alternatives

If you need to read the code, self-host or avoid lock-in:

• Cline is an open-source VS Code agent and CLI.
• Zed is an open-source editor that also runs local models through Ollama and LM Studio, so your code never has to leave your machine.
• Codex CLI has its source code published on GitHub, though you still need a ChatGPT plan or an API key to use it.

With open-source tools, you choose the model provider, which means you also choose where your code goes.

Cheapest Copilot alternatives by monthly price

Cheapest isn't always best value. If you already pay $20 a month for Claude or ChatGPT, the coding agent included in that plan may replace Copilot at no extra cost.

How to switch from GitHub Copilot

1. Export your instructions. Copy your Copilot custom instructions (for example .github/copilot-instructions.md) into the new tool's format: AGENTS.md for Codex, CLAUDE.md for Claude Code, Cursor rules, or steering files for Kiro.
2. Reconnect MCP servers. Cursor, Claude Code, Codex and Cline all support MCP, so most tool integrations carry over.
3. Keep your extensions. Cursor and Devin Desktop are based on VS Code, so most extensions and keybindings transfer.
4. Run both for a week. Try the new tool on a real task, not a demo, before your Copilot billing period ends.
5. Keep Copilot Free as a backup. If you cancel a paid Copilot plan, Copilot Free still gives you 2,000 completions a month inside your current editor.

Privacy and your code

• GitHub Copilot: on Free, Pro and Pro+, GitHub may use prompts, suggestions and code snippets to train models unless you opt out at github.com/settings/copilot/features. Business and Enterprise data isn't used that way.
• Cursor: turn on Privacy Mode, which Cursor says keeps your code from being used for training by Cursor or its model providers.
• Claude Code: consumer plans let you opt out of model training; Team and Enterprise plans don't train on your data by default.
• Cline and Zed with your own keys: your code goes to the provider you choose, under that provider's terms, or stays local with a local model.

Which Copilot alternative should you choose?

Want a browser-based builder instead of an editor? See my guide to Replit alternatives.

FAQ

Final thoughts

The best Copilot alternatives each solve a different problem: Cursor and Devin Desktop replace your editor, Claude Code and Codex add an agent, Antigravity suits Gemini users, Kiro adds planning, and Zed and Cline keep things fast, open and cheap. Try one free plan for a week on real work before you pay. If you'd like help setting up an AI coding workflow for your team or project, get in touch.