GitHub Copilot, the AI-powered code assistant, is now available for free in Visual Studio Code, as announced in a recent post on the Visual Studio Code blog. To access the new free plan, users only need a GitHub account — no subscription or credit card is required.
As it would be expected, the free plan comes with some limitations, offering up to 2.000 code completions and 50 chat requests per month. It also includes access to two AI models: GPT-4o and Claude 3.5 Sonnet.
Users seeking more flexibility can upgrade to the Pro plan, currently priced at $10 USD per month, with the first month free. The Pro plan provides unlimited access to GitHub Copilot and additional models, such as o1 and Gemini (coming in the new year).
Although the announcement primarily highlights the integration of GitHub Copilot with Visual Studio Code, it can also be used on GitHub.com, JetBrains IDEs, and Microsoft's full-featured IDE, Visual Studio.
Integration with Visual Studio is already available, though it has some limitations, such as the lack of notifications for usage limits. Microsoft plans to address these issues and enhance the experience in Visual Studio by January.
As with all code assistants, GitHub Copilot raises concerns about how user data is managed, particularly whether it collects code samples for its own improvement or uses user code for training. According to the GitHub Copilot Trust Center FAQ, it is explicitly stated that only the Business and Enterprise plans do not collect user data for model training. For the free and Pro plans, data collection appears likely and is not disabled by default, though users do have the option to opt out.
For more information about the tool and pricing options, visit the Copilot page on GitHub.
