Yes—GitHub Copilot has a free plan for eligible personal accounts. As listed in GitHub’s individual-plan comparison accessed October 5, 2026, Copilot Free includes up to 2,000 inline suggestions, 50 chat interactions, and 50 premium requests per month. Those are separate limits, not three ways of describing the same allowance. If you want free AI chat in VS Code without Copilot, you can also connect a compatible provider or use a local model, but those options do not provide every Copilot feature.
What does GitHub Copilot Free include in VS Code?
GitHub’s current individual-plan comparison lists these monthly Copilot Free allowances for eligible users:
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| Allowance | Copilot Free limit | What it applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Inline suggestions | Up to 2,000 per month | Code completions shown inline as you work. |
| Chat interactions | Up to 50 per month | Interactions in chat; this is a distinct plan-comparison measure. |
| Premium requests | Up to 50 per month | A separate plan-comparison measure. Do not treat it as interchangeable with chat interactions or inline suggestions. |
These figures are from GitHub’s individual plan comparison, accessed October 5, 2026. The plan page is the source to check for current eligibility, limits, and terms because they can change.
Who can use the free plan?
Copilot Free is intended for personal use. GitHub says it is unavailable to people already covered by an organization or enterprise Copilot seat and to certain people with existing subscriptions or trials. Verified students have a separate free plan; teachers and qualifying open-source maintainers may be eligible for free Pro access. These offers have their own eligibility rules and should not be assumed to stack with Copilot Free.
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What happens when an allowance runs out?
Inline suggestions and AI use have separate monthly allowances. Reaching one category does not automatically disable the other. GitHub’s billing documentation says included AI credits reset at 00:00 UTC on the first day of each calendar month and do not roll over. VS Code says inline-suggestion and AI-credit allowances reset monthly. You can check usage in the Copilot status dashboard.
GitHub is also using AI credits as a usage-based measure. Its billing documentation defines one AI credit as $0.01 USD and says request cost depends on token volume and the selected model. A short exchange with a lighter model and a long, multi-file agent session can therefore use different amounts. A credit total does not translate into a guaranteed number of prompts.
GitHub’s published individual billing figures accessed October 5, 2026 list Pro at $10 USD per month with 1,500 total monthly AI credits, Pro+ at $39 USD per month with 7,000, and Max at $100 USD per month with 20,000. These are paid-plan figures, not Copilot Free allowances; check GitHub’s usage-based billing documentation and plan comparison for the live terms. Premium-request counts and credit-based billing are distinct published measures, so compare like with like rather than converting one into the other.
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Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallWhich free AI assistant options work in VS Code?
There is no single best choice for every coding workflow. VS Code documents GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, and Codex as agent-harness options, and lets users select the harness, model, and execution location separately. The harness controls how the assistant interacts with the workspace and requests approval; the provider, model, account terms, and available features vary.
| Route | What it can offer | Important limitation |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub Copilot Free | Copilot chat and inline suggestions within the published monthly limits. | Eligibility and monthly allowances apply; verify current terms on GitHub’s plan page. |
| Bring your own key (BYOK) | VS Code chat and agentic coding with compatible providers, without a Copilot plan. | Provider access, billing, data handling, model availability, and feature coverage depend on the provider and setup. |
| Local model | Chat using a local model such as Ollama; the documented route can work without a GitHub account or internet connection. | Local models do not cover every VS Code AI feature, and VS Code currently documents no local-model route for inline suggestions. |
VS Code’s BYOK and model documentation explains the provider and local-model options. In particular, inline suggestions, semantic search, and features that rely on embeddings still require GitHub Copilot service access. If inline completion is essential, confirm that a specific extension and provider support it rather than assuming that a BYOK chat connection includes it.
How to compare assistants for your own work
- Cost and limits: Check the actual free allowance, what each unit counts, and any overage controls.
- Model choice: Availability and context limits depend on the harness and may also be restricted by an administrator.
- Workflow: Decide whether you need inline completion, chat, file edits, agent tools, or control over where commands and changes run.
- Offline use and provider choice: Local models and BYOK can avoid a Copilot plan, but do not necessarily replace its full feature set.
- Data and control: Review provider terms, account policies, telemetry settings, workspace trust, and the approval rules for tool actions.
VS Code’s agent documentation describes harnesses and execution choices, while its model documentation covers model selection and availability. The available documentation does not establish a standardized head-to-head benchmark, so it does not support a universal performance winner.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What should you check before using an assistant on project code?
Review telemetry and provider data handling
VS Code says telemetry is currently enabled by default in its free version of GitHub Copilot. Its Copilot setup guidance explains how to turn off VS Code telemetry or adjust Copilot settings. Telemetry controls and an AI provider’s handling of prompts or code are separate matters: review both, along with any organization rules, before sending private work code.
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Inspect agent actions and edits
An agent may edit project files and request approval for terminal commands or other tools. Inspect the changed-file summary or source-control diff before keeping its work. Stopping an agent request does not undo edits it has already made; restore unwanted changes explicitly. VS Code’s agent-mode guide covers its workflow and controls.
Are the old Copilot Free figures still current?
VS Code’s December 18, 2024 launch announcement described 2,000 code completions and 50 chat requests per month and named GPT-4o and Claude 3.5 Sonnet as launch-era models. Those details describe the announcement, not necessarily current model entitlements or the units used by today’s plan comparison. Use the current GitHub plan page for present limits, and do not assume the launch models remain included.
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