GitHub Copilot is an AI-poweredAI powered coding assistant that supports popular IDEs and is natively available inside GitHub. It can suggest single lines, rewrite whole files, and, through its new Agent Mode, open a pull request after running tests.
In this guide, we explain what Copilot is, its key features, who uses it, what sets it apart, its limitations, and what comes next.
What is GitHub Copilot?
GitHub Copilot supports VS Code, JetBrains, Neovim, Xcode, and Visual Studio. With Copilot, developers can choose between several large‑language models: GPT‑4.1, Anthropic Claude 4 Sonnet and Opus, and lighter in‑house models directly from a drop‑down menu in the editor. This allows teams to choose speed or deeper reasoning without leaving their coding workspace.
Copilot follows a freemium model.
- The Free plan allows 50 chat or agent requests each month.
- Pro costs $10 per month and unlocks unlimited prompts plus standard models.
- Pro+ at $39 per month adds premium models.
- Enterprise pricing is seat‑based and includes SSO, usage analytics, and policy controls.
Key Features of GitHub Copilot
Agent Mode
Automates a complete task, such as refactoring or dependency upgrades, then shows every change in a pull request.
Next Edit Suggestions
After you touch one file, Copilot predicts follow‑on edits across the repo, helping teams improve code consistency.
Code review
The GitHub Copilot code review capability flags performance, security, and style issues before a developer ever opens the PR.
Pull‑request summaries
Click one button and Copilot writes the “what changed and why” section for your PR, including any risks reviewers should check.
Natural‑language code search
Type a plain question like “where do we check JWT tokens?” and Copilot opens the exact file and line for you.
Inline explanations
Hover over code you don’t recognize, and Copilot shows a short, line‑by‑line explanation of what it does.
Model switcher & chat modes
Inside VS Code, you can switch between GPT‑4.1, Claude, or fast proprietary models and choose Ask/Edit/Agent modes without plugins.
Spaces & knowledge bases
With Copilot Enterprise, you can build a knowledge base by selecting one or more internal repositories and docs.
Enterprise guardrails
Admins on the Enterprise plan can set global rules, including which models are allowed, blocking suggestions that include public license code, determining how long chat prompts are stored, and requiring that embeddings remain within GitHub’s controlled environment.
Who Uses Copilot Today?
GitHub says more than one million developers and over 20,000 organizations have activated Copilot, generating billions of accepted lines of code.
TechRadar’s July 2025 roundup still lists Copilot as the most production‑ready coding assistant for large companies, while Gartner Peer Insights shows Copilot in the Leader cluster for AI code assistants.
What Makes a Copilot Unique?
- Full-stack integration – Copilot lives in Issues, PRs, Actions, and even VS Code’s terminal, giving it broader project context than editor-only plugins.
- Human-in-the-loop agents – Although Agent Mode can automate a refactor or dependency upgrade, it always raises a branch and shows a complete diff for review. Developers can inspect, tweak, or reject any change before it merges
- Responsible AI program – The Copilot Trust Center outlines data retention, privacy, and opt-out options, easing security reviews for regulated teams.
- Structured learning path – Microsoft Learn offers a self‑paced “GitHub Copilot Fundamentals” track with labs that cover setup, prompt design, and security guidelines. This allows developers a quick way to get a GitHub Copilot training certification.
- Continuous delivery of new tools – GitHub ships Copilot updates with each monthly VS Code release. New models, chat presets, and workflow shortcuts often appear within weeks of their initial preview.
Current Limits and Roadmap
- Agent Mode still previews outside VS Code – JetBrains and Xcode support is expected later in 2025.
- Context window tops out at 32K tokens – GitHub is privately testing 128K Model Context Protocol servers for larger monorepos.
- No official Gemini Pro in production – Gemini trials remain in Copilot Labs; stick to GPT‑4.1 or Claude for live work.
- Fine‑tuning paused – GitHub relies on Spaces and embeddings for customization. Full on‑prem fine‑tune API is penciled in for 2026.
- Performance on older hardware – Autocomplete latency rises on low‑RAM laptops.
Conclusion
GitHub Copilot has evolved from simple autocomplete to an agent that can refactor code, run tests, and open pull requests across an entire repository. With wide IDE support, a choice of high‑quality models, and clear pricing tiers, it is often the first tool developers try when they explore AI coding assistants.
Copilot’s roadmap brings steady upgrades, such as an upcoming 128K token context window. So its capabilities can change noticeably from one month to the next, reshaping any head‑to‑head comparison with other AI assistants.
