What are the main alternatives to GitHub Copilot?
The main GitHub Copilot alternatives are Cursor, Claude Code, OpenAI's Codex and Cline for VS Code users, Junie for JetBrains users, and Tabnine, Google Antigravity or Amazon Q Developer for Visual Studio, where far fewer tools offer an official extension. Open source agents like Cline and OpenCode let you bring any model, and terminal agents run beside any IDE.
The deciding factor is usually your IDE. Copilot runs in many editors, so check that an alternative actually supports yours before you compare features. The table below does that for the three editors people ask about most.
Why look for a GitHub Copilot alternative in 2026?
GitHub Copilot has seven plans as of October 2026, per GitHub's plans docs: Free, Student, Pro at $10 USD a month, Pro+ at $39, Max at $100, Business at $19 per granted seat and Enterprise at $39 per granted seat. Usage is measured in AI credits: GitHub's plans page says "1 AI credit = $0.01 USD" and notes that "Flex allotments may change over time." The Copilot pricing guide explains credits in detail.
People usually look elsewhere for one of four reasons:
- They want predictable costs instead of metered AI credits.
- They want a different way of working, such as a full AI editor or a terminal agent.
- They want open source software or local models.
- Their company needs a specific vendor, deployment model or IDE.
Copilot itself keeps adding surfaces, including a CLI, a desktop app and a cloud agent, so it is worth checking whether a Copilot feature you haven't tried already solves the problem.
Which alternatives run in VS Code, Visual Studio and JetBrains?
This table shows what each vendor's own docs list, checked October 2026. "Not listed" means the vendor's docs don't name that IDE.
| Tool | VS Code | Visual Studio | JetBrains | Deep comparison |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub Copilot (for reference) | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Cursor | Its own editor | Not listed | Through JetBrains AI Chat (paid plans) | Cursor vs Copilot |
| Claude Code | Extension | Not listed | Plugin (needs the CLI) | Claude Code vs Copilot |
| Codex | Extension | Not listed | Through JetBrains AI Chat | Copilot vs Codex |
| Cline | Extension | Not listed | Plugin | Cline vs Copilot |
| Devin Desktop (formerly Windsurf) | Its own editor | Not listed | Plugin in maintenance mode | Copilot vs Windsurf |
| Google Antigravity | Extension | Extension (2026, Windows) | Extension | Cursor vs Antigravity |
| Junie (JetBrains) | Not listed | Not listed | Yes, plus a CLI | |
| Tabnine | Yes | 2022 and 2026, Windows | Yes | |
| Amazon Q Developer (plugin support ends April 30, 2027) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Sources: Cursor JetBrains docs, Claude Code overview, Codex IDE docs, Cline install docs, Devin Desktop FAQ, Antigravity IDE extensions, Tabnine supported IDEs and Amazon Q Developer in the IDE.
Which alternatives work inside VS Code?
VS Code has the most choice, because most tools ship a VS Code extension or are built on VS Code.
- Cursor replaces VS Code with its own AI editor. As of October 2026, cursor.com/pricing lists Free, Plus at $8 a month (Grok models only) and Premium at $30 with third-party models at API list price.
- Claude Code installs as an extension and needs a paid Claude plan, from Pro at $20 a month per claude.com/pricing.
- Codex works in "VS Code and compatible editors," and OpenAI's pricing page includes the IDE extension from ChatGPT Plus at $20 a month.
- Cline is an open source agent extension that uses your own provider key or ClinePass at $9.99 a month.
- VS Code with your own key. VS Code's language model docs say "BYOK models work without signing into a GitHub account and without a Copilot plan." It covers chat and agent tasks; inline suggestions still need a GitHub account.
One option to cross off: Google says "New Gemini Code Assist subscriptions are no longer available for purchase," and its IDE extensions stopped serving individual users on June 18, 2026. The Gemini Code Assist guide has the details.
What are the options for Visual Studio and JetBrains users?
Visual Studio. Copilot supports Visual Studio, and GitHub names it for agent mode. Among alternatives, three vendors document Visual Studio support:
- Tabnine lists Visual Studio 2022 (17.8 to 17.14) and Visual Studio 2026 (18.1 to 18.7) as fully supported, on Windows only.
- Google Antigravity has a Visual Studio extension that needs Visual Studio 2026 on Windows 10 or 11 and works with "any Antigravity plan (including the free tier)."
- Amazon Q Developer supports chat, agentic coding, MCP servers and inline suggestions in Visual Studio, but not inline chat. AWS says "On April 30, 2027, AWS will discontinue support for Amazon Q Developer IDE plugins" and points users to Kiro for similar features.
Claude Code and Codex don't list Visual Studio, but both are command line tools. You can run claude or codex in a terminal next to Visual Studio, let the agent edit files, and review the changes in the IDE.
JetBrains. The choice is wider:
- Junie is JetBrains' own coding agent, available in JetBrains IDEs through AI Chat or a plugin. Its site lists a free Junie Lite model in every JetBrains account, bring your own key with "Provider-rate pricing, zero markup," and paid AI Pro and AI Ultimate plans. It also has a CLI.
- Claude Code has a JetBrains plugin that needs the CLI installed separately. See Claude Code in JetBrains.
- Codex runs inside JetBrains AI Chat: OpenAI's docs say "JetBrains IDEs: open AI Chat and select Codex."
- Cline and Tabnine both have JetBrains plugins.
If you are staying on Copilot in JetBrains, the Copilot in JetBrains guide covers what works there.
Which alternatives are free or open source?
- Cline (Apache 2.0) works with your own keys, including local runtimes.
- OpenCode (MIT) is a terminal agent with desktop apps. Its providers docs say it discovers local models from Ollama, LM Studio and vLLM, and it can even sign in with your GitHub Copilot account.
- Zed is an open source editor that is free with your own API keys. See Zed AI.
- Copilot Free and Copilot Student are worth a look before you leave. GitHub lists both at no cost, and Pro is "free for some users." The Copilot Free guide explains the limits.
Which agent tools work differently from Copilot's agent mode?
Copilot's agent mode works inside your editor. Some alternatives are built around handing off a whole task instead:
- Claude Code and Codex are terminal-first agents that also run on the web, so tasks can keep going without your editor open.
- Devin Desktop pairs an editor with Devin cloud agents from its Pro plan at $20 a month, per Devin's pricing.
- Kiro writes requirements, a design and a task list before it codes. Kiro's pricing starts with a Free plan of 50 credits and Pro at $20.
The Claude Code alternatives page compares terminal agents in more depth.
How do you move your Copilot instructions and skills to another tool?
Instructions. .github/copilot-instructions.md is Copilot's own file. GitHub's instructions docs say Copilot also supports AGENTS.md files "stored anywhere within the repository." Cursor, Codex, Kiro, Antigravity and OpenCode read AGENTS.md too, so move shared rules there. The AGENTS.md guide covers the format.
Skills. Copilot loads skills from .github/skills, .claude/skills or .agents/skills. Only Copilot reads .github/skills, so move skills to .agents/skills (read by Cursor, Codex and Antigravity) or .claude/skills (read by Claude Code, Cursor and Copilot). See Copilot Agent Skills.
MCP servers. Each tool has its own MCP config, so add your servers again after the switch.
Keeping instructions in your own repo makes the next move easier. Kipt stores your prompts and skills as Markdown in a private GitHub repo you own and installs every skill into Claude Code or Codex with one npx skills add command. The free SKILL.md generator turns an instruction you keep repeating into a skill folder. If you are weighing editors more broadly, see Cursor alternatives and Antigravity alternatives.