Getting started with GitHub Copilot | Tutorial
Published by GitHubWatch on YouTube
GitHub Copilot
The AI pair programmer, everywhere you code
- GitHub, Inc. · United States
- Since 2021
Key takeaways
from our research
Works in VS Code, JetBrains, Neovim, Visual Studio and Xcode — nobody changes editors
Cheapest paid tier in the category at $10/user/mo, with a usable free plan
Most mature enterprise governance, audit logging and policy controls
Agentic autonomy and codebase awareness now trail Cursor and Claude Code
Our verdict
Updated Aug 25, 2026Fact-checked Jul 11, 2026
Copilot is the tool you buy for an organisation rather than for yourself, and that is a real distinction. It runs in VS Code, JetBrains, Neovim, Visual Studio and Xcode, so nobody has to change editors. It plugs into GitHub natively for PR review and issue-to-PR agents. Its enterprise controls, audit logging and policy management are the most complete here, and procurement departments already know the vendor.
The product itself is solid and improving. Completions are good, in-editor chat is good, the code review agent catches real issues before a human looks, and model choice means you are not stuck with one vendor's quality curve. At $10 a month for individuals it is also the cheapest paid option in this category by some distance, and the free tier covers light use.
Where it now trails is autonomy and codebase awareness. In our repository tests Cursor and Claude Code both produced changes that fitted our existing conventions more often, and both handled multi-file work with less hand-holding. Copilot's agent mode has improved substantially but still feels like a capable assistant rather than something you delegate to.
Our guidance: for a company standardising across mixed editors and needing clean governance, Copilot remains the right default and the price is hard to argue with. For an individual developer optimising purely for capability, Cursor or Claude Code will do more.
Written by Maya Krishnan · Edited by Daniel Ross
Recognitions
Awards GitHub Copilot has earned
- Best Value 2026AI Coding Tools
Ratings
Loved by 100% of reviewers
First-party reviews, individually moderated before publication.
Pros & cons
Where GitHub Copilot shines — and where it doesn't
What users love
- Works in every editor47
- Enterprise governance33
Where it falls short
- Less codebase-aware31
- Premium request limits27
Themes generated from 3 verified reviews, updated monthly
Head to head
GitHub Copilot vs Cursor at a glance
GitHub CopilotRating
4.2(3)
4.8(4)
Starting price
$8.33/mo
$16/mo
Free trial
Yes
Yes
Free plan
Yes
Yes
Alternatives
Top GitHub Copilot alternatives
The closest fits based on category, feature overlap, and reviewer demand.
Most LovedClaude Code
4.7(3)Best for autonomous, feature-sized work by terminal-comfortable developers
From $17/mo
Videos
Watch GitHub Copilot in action
Product walkthroughs published on GitHub Copilot's own YouTube channel — so you see the real interface, not a reenactment.
Live demo: GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio Code
Published by GitHubWatch on YouTube
Capabilities
Key features
What GitHub Copilot does — and doesn't — cover, checked against the category feature vocabulary.
Platform
- Not included:Built-in hosting & deployRuns and deploys the application without configuring separate infrastructure.
Team & Governance
- Included:No training on your codeBusiness tiers exclude your source from model training by default.
- Not included:Self-hosted or VPC optionRuns inside your own infrastructure for regulated or air-gapped environments.
- Included:Team admin & SSOCentral seat management, policy controls and single sign-on.
Code Generation
- Included:In-editor chatAsk questions about the code you are looking at without leaving the editor.
- Included:Inline autocompleteMulti-line suggestions as you type, accepted with a keystroke.
- Included:Test generationWrites unit and integration tests against existing code.
Codebase Awareness
- Included:Custom project rulesPersistent instructions describing your conventions, applied to every request.
- Included:Tool & MCP integrationConnects to external tools and data sources so the assistant can read docs, tickets or a database.
- Included:Whole-repository indexingIndexes the entire codebase so suggestions follow your existing patterns and reuse your helpers.
Agent Autonomy
- Included:Automated PR reviewReviews pull requests and comments on problems before a human does.
- Included:Background & async agentsWorks on a task on its own while you do something else, then reports back.
- Included:Multi-file editsApplies a single instruction coherently across several files at once.
- Included:Runs commands & testsExecutes builds and test suites, reads the output and fixes what it broke.
Pricing
GitHub Copilot pricing
GitHub Copilot's paid plans start at $8.33/user/month — below the $16 median of the 5 AI Coding Tools tools we track. A free plan is available, and you can test it on a 30-day free trial.
Value for money 3.8/5Free
$0
Free forever
- 2,000 completions per month
- 50 chat requests per month
- Works in all supported editors
- Access to several models
- Basic code review
Pro
$8.33/mo
per user, per month (billed annually)
or $10/mo billed monthly
- Unlimited completions
- Unlimited chat with base models
- Premium requests for frontier models
- Coding agent and agent mode
- PR review agent
- Copilot in the CLI
Most popularVisit website
Pro+
$33/mo
per user, per month (billed annually)
or $39/mo billed monthly
Everything in Pro, plus:
- Substantially more premium requests
- Access to every available model
- Priority on new features
- Higher agent concurrency
Business
$19/mo
per month
Everything in Pro, plus:
- Organisation-wide policy management
- Audit logs
- Your code excluded from training
- IP indemnity
- Seat management and usage reporting
Enterprise
$39/mo
per month
Everything in Business, plus:
- Knowledge bases across repositories
- Fine-tuned organisation models
- Copilot in github.com pull requests
- Highest premium request allowance
- SAML SSO and SCIM
Pricing fact-checked August 25, 2026 · source: vendor pricing page · see the full breakdown
Ecosystem
Integrates with 5+ tools
- GitHub
- Visual Studio Code
- JetBrains
- Azure DevOps
- Slack
Fit check
Will GitHub Copilot fit your team?
Support
- Email support
- Knowledge base
- Community forum
Training
- Documentation
- Video tutorials
- Webinars
Deployment
- Web
- macOS
- Windows
- Linux
Typical users
- Freelancers
- Small businesses
- Mid-size companies
- Enterprises
Reviews
What real users say
First-party, moderated reviews — never scraped, never paid for.
Aisha M.Validated Reviewer
Business Analyst · Healthcare · 1,000+ employees
4.0
July 1, 2026
“The one our security team approved without a fight”
Used daily for 1–2 years
We evaluated four tools. Copilot won on governance, not on capability — audit logs, policy management, IP indemnity and a vendor already on our approved list. For a regulated environment that is most of the decision, and the engineers are perfectly happy with it.
Ethan K.
Account Executive · SaaS · 11–50 employees
4.5
June 2, 2026
“Best value in the category at $10”
Used daily for 2+ years
It is a third the price of the alternatives and delivers well over a third of the value. For a small team watching costs that maths is hard to beat. The PR review agent catching obvious issues before a human looks is worth the fee on its own.
Marcus C.Validated Reviewer
Product Manager · SaaS · 201–1,000 employees
4.0
April 21, 2026
“Solid autocomplete, unremarkable agent”
Used daily for 2+ years
As a completion tool it does exactly what it says and I would not work without it. As an agent it needs more supervision than the newer tools — it loses track on anything spanning more than two or three files and produces code that ignores our internal conventions.
Sources & methodology
Product information sourced from GitHub, Inc.'s public content (United States); pricing verified August 25, 2026. Reviews are first-party and moderated. How we test and rate tools
- Founded 2008
- 1 language supported
- github.com
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