Your AI pair programmer that writes code alongside you.
What is GitHub Copilot?
GitHub Copilot AI is developed by GitHub in collaboration with OpenAI and Microsoft. It leverages OpenAI’s Codex model, a descendant of GPT-3, which was trained on a vast corpus of public source code and natural language. This enables Copilot to function as an AI pair programmer, offering real-time code completions, generating entire functions from descriptive comments, and suggesting multiple code alternatives. Its key capabilities include autocompleting code across dozens of programming languages, converting comments to code, and assisting with test generation and framework-specific syntax. The tool is primarily targeted at software developers, from students to professional engineers, to accelerate coding tasks, reduce boilerplate work, and aid in learning new languages or frameworks. By integrating directly into popular IDEs like Visual Studio Code and the JetBrains suite, it impacts business workflows by streamlining development, potentially reducing context-switching and allowing developers to focus on complex logic. For teams evaluating similar AI coding assistants, a comparison of features is available at https://ai-plaza.io/ai/code-assistant. Further technical details on its underlying model are documented in OpenAI’s research (OpenAI, 2021).
Key Findings
- Code Completion: Accelerates software development by suggesting entire lines and blocks of code instantly.
- Pair Programming: Acts as an AI pair programmer offering real-time suggestions and alternative solutions.
- Context Awareness: Understands your code’s context and comments to provide highly relevant and accurate suggestions.
- Multi-Language Support: Works seamlessly across dozens of programming languages and a vast array of frameworks.
- Chat Interface: Answers complex questions about your codebase, libraries, and debugging through conversational chat.
- Quick Fixes: Identifies errors and vulnerabilities then provides immediate explanations and corrective code snippets.
- Customization Options: Allows tailoring of suggestions to match your team’s specific style and project guidelines.
- IDE Integration: Functions directly within popular development environments like VS Code, Visual Studio, and JetBrains.
- Boosts Productivity: Dramatically reduces boilerplate code writing, allowing developers to focus on complex logic.
- Enterprise Security: Operates with robust security measures ensuring your code remains private and protected.
Who is it for?
Programmer
- Writing boilerplate code
- Debugging complex functions
- Writing test cases
- Documenting code
- Exploring new APIs
Startup Founder
- Prototyping a new feature
- Managing technical debt
- Reviewing pull requests
- Writing deployment scripts
- Onboarding new developers
Content Creator
- Writing technical blog posts
- Generating social media content
- Scripting video tutorials
- Researching code solutions
- Formatting code for publication
Pricing
Free @ $0 USD
- 50 agent mode or chat requests per month
- 2,000 completions per month
- Access to Haiku 4.5, GPT-4.1, and more
Pro @ $10 USD per month or $100 per year
- Unlimited agent mode and chats with GPT-5 mini
- Unlimited code completions
- Access to models from Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, and more
- 300 premium requests to use latest models
Pro+ @ $39 USD per month or $390 per year
- Access to all models, including Claude Opus 4.1 and more
- 5x more premium requests than Pro (1,500 per month)
- Access to GitHub Spark
- Codex IDE extension support in VS Code