What is GitHub Copilot?

What Is GitHub Copilot?

GitHub Copilot is an AI pair programming tool that provides real-time code suggestions within code editors. Developed by GitHub in collaboration with OpenAI, it launched as a technical preview in June 2021 and became generally available in June 2022. As of April 2026, GitHub reports over 1.8 million paying subscribers and adoption by more than 77,000 organizations.

How It Works

Copilot is powered by large language models (including models from OpenAI's GPT family and Anthropic's Claude) trained on publicly available code. It analyzes the current file, open tabs, and surrounding code context to generate:

• Inline completions: Line-by-line and multi-line code suggestions as the developer types
• Chat: Natural language conversations for explaining code, debugging, and generating functions
• CLI assistance: Command-line help for git, terminal commands, and shell scripting
• Pull request summaries: AI-generated descriptions for GitHub pull requests

Key Features (April 2026)

• Multi-model support: Users can choose between different AI models for different tasks
• Copilot Workspace: AI-assisted planning and implementation of GitHub Issues
• Code review: AI-powered review suggestions on pull requests
• Knowledge bases: Custom retrieval from organization documentation
• Extensions: Third-party integrations within Copilot Chat

Pricing (April 2026)

• Free: Limited completions and chat for verified students, teachers, and open-source maintainers
• Individual: $10/month or $100/year
• Business: $19/user/month — organization management, policy controls, audit logs
• Enterprise: $39/user/month — knowledge bases, fine-tuning, advanced security

Supported Editors

GitHub Copilot works in Visual Studio Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains IDEs (IntelliJ, PyCharm, WebStorm, etc.), Neovim, and the GitHub.com web editor. It supports all major programming languages, with strongest performance in Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Go, Ruby, and Java.

Competitive Landscape

Copilot competes with Cursor (AI-native editor), Windsurf (Codeium's IDE), Amazon CodeWhisperer (now Amazon Q Developer), and Tabnine. Its advantage is deep GitHub integration and the largest user base among AI coding tools.