Is GitHub Copilot free, and what does the free plan include?

Who can use Copilot Free?

Copilot Free is the no-cost plan for individual developers. GitHub's plans page, read on 16 October 2026, says it is "only available to individual developers who don't have access to Copilot through an organization or enterprise." The FAQ on the Copilot pricing page adds that people assigned a Copilot Business or Enterprise seat "are not eligible for access", while people who already have Pro through a subscription, trial or a verified student, faculty or open source account "may elect to use Free instead."

You do not need to apply. VS Code's setup page says that signing in without a plan "enrolls an eligible account in Copilot Free"; the first-time Copilot thread walks through it.

What does the free plan include?

As of the pricing page and plans page on 16 October 2026:

Feature	Copilot Free	Source
Inline code completions	2,000 per month	Plans page and billing page
Chat, agent mode, Copilot CLI	Included, drawing on a limited allowance of AI credits	Pricing page: "Limited chat and agent usage"
Choice of model	No; "auto model selection only"	Plans page
Agent mode in VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains, Eclipse and Xcode	Included	Pricing page
MCP servers with agent mode	Included	Pricing page
Cloud agent (assign an issue, get a pull request)	Not included	Pricing page
Pull request reviews on GitHub	Not included; in VS Code, only "Review selection"	Pricing page and plans page
Copilot Chat skills in IDEs	Not included	Plans page
Buying extra AI credits	Not included	Pricing page

GitHub AI Credits are the unit GitHub uses to meter model use. The pricing page FAQ defines "1 AI credit = $0.01 USD" and says credits are used "when you chat with Copilot, work with agents, or use Copilot CLI, Spaces, and Spark." How many a request uses depends on the model and the size of the task.

How big is the free allowance?

GitHub does not print one number for it, and its pages disagree. The individual billing page says Copilot Free has "an allowance of AI credits" and "2000 code completions per month", without a credit figure. The older FAQ on the pricing page still says Free users "are limited to 2000 completions and 50 chat requests". The billing page describes the newer credit system, so treat the "50 chat requests" line as likely out of date, and check the real figure in your own account: VS Code's setup page says the Copilot status dashboard in the Status Bar shows "the percentage of your monthly allowance that you used."

Two timing rules from the billing page apply to included credits: they "do not carry over between months", and the allowance resets "at 00:00:00 UTC on the first day of each calendar month", whatever day you signed up.

What do the paid plans cost?

As of the pricing page on 16 October 2026, Copilot Pro is $10 per month, Pro+ $39 and Max $100 for individuals. For organisations, the plans page read the same day lists Business at $19 and Enterprise at $39 per granted seat per month. The plans page lists total monthly credits of 1,500 for Pro, 7,000 for Pro+ and 20,000 for Max, made up of base credits plus a "flex allotment" that GitHub says may change. On paid plans, code completions "remain unlimited". These figures change; check the page before you decide.

Can you get more than Free without paying?

Possibly. The plans page lists Copilot Student as free for verified students, with unlimited code completions per the billing page, though it "Excludes third-party agents" and is also Auto-only. It also says "Verified teachers, and maintainers of popular open source projects may be eligible for free access to Copilot Pro." The follow-up below covers the student route.

What should you check before you rely on it?

1. Data settings. VS Code's setup page warns that on the free version "Telemetry ... is currently enabled" and that suggestions matching public code are allowed by default. Both can be changed at github.com/settings/copilot. Whether GitHub trains on your code is covered in the later thread "Does GitHub use your code to train Copilot?".
2. Which model you are getting. On Free you cannot choose; the model thread shows how to see which model answered.
3. What happens at the limit. Free cannot buy extra credits, so a long agent session can end your month early.
4. Alternatives. If you need more agent time without a subscription, a local model is the other route; see the local model thread. The CodeLifter coding agents directory lists other agents with their licences.

Short version

• Yes: Copilot Free costs $0 for individuals who do not get Copilot through an organisation.
• It includes 2,000 completions a month, limited chat and agent use, agent mode, MCP and the CLI.
• No model choice, no cloud agent, no pull request reviews and no extra credits.
• The allowance resets on the first of each month at midnight UTC; check usage in the Status Bar.