GitHub Copilot Goes Free: Will This Move Win Back Developers From Cursor and Windsurf Editor
GitHub Copilot is now available for free along with cutting-edge AI models like Claude 3.5 Sonnet and GPT-4o . The free plan include 2000 completions and 50 chat messages per month.
The competition among AI coding assistants is fiercer than ever. With tools like Cursor and Windsurf Editor by Codeium capturing developer attention through swift innovation and attractive pricing, the GitHub Copilot has found itself challenged. In a bold response, GitHub has announced that Copilot is now free for individual developers, removing the cost barrier that may have nudged some users to rival platforms.
Yet, this pricing shift isn’t just about luring users back—it’s about meeting their expectations for higher performance, versatility, and integration across the entire software development lifecycle. At the heart of these upgrades is Claude 3.5 Sonnet, a single, powerful AI model designed to improve code suggestions from ideation to optimization.
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GitHub now has Claude 3.5 Sonnet
Copilot Free finally offers a choice between Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet and OpenAI’s GPT-4o, allowing you to ask coding questions, explain existing code, find bugs, and execute edits across multiple files. You can also tap into third-party agents or even create your own extension.
Why Make GitHub Copilot Free Now?
1. Reclaiming Developer Mindshare
Developers initially embraced Copilot because it was from GitHub, home to millions of repositories and a thriving community. However, GitHub failed to bank on their headstart and didn’t innovate at the speed it should have. Newbies rolled out great features , agents, better context awareness etc..Now, by dropping the paywall, GitHub removes the primary excuse not to give Copilot a try—or a second chance.
2. Countering the Rise of Competitors
Cursor, Windsurf, and others quickly gained traction by being agile, priced competitively, and responsive to user feedback. GitHub’s new free model strikes directly at these advantages. With no upfront cost, there’s nothing holding developers back from testing Copilot’s capabilities head-to-head against rival tools. If Copilot can stand on its own merits, GitHub could win back users who had drifted.
3. Strengthening the GitHub Ecosystem
GitHub’s long-term strategy likely goes beyond Copilot’s standalone success. By making Copilot free, GitHub encourages developers to stay within its ecosystem—repositories, pull requests, CI/CD with Actions, and ephemeral dev environments with Codespaces. If Copilot proves indispensable to a developer’s workflow, the entire GitHub platform becomes more “sticky,” locking in users and keeping competitors at bay.
New Pricing Details
While individuals now enjoy free access to Copilot, GitHub maintains a business offering for organizations that require advanced administrative controls, compliance, and support:
For Individual Developers:
Free. Yes, you read that right—personal users can now leverage Copilot’s AI assistance at no cost. Now automatically integrated into VS Code, all developers will have access to 2,000 code completions and 50 chat messages per month, simply by signing in with their personal GitHub account.Pro Plan is price $10 per user per month for personal use
For Businesses is $19 per user/month for GitHub Copilot for Business.
For the most up-to-date and specific information, you can check out the official GitHub Copilot plans.
Features That Make GitHub Copilot Worth Trying
With the barrier to entry now removed, there’s every reason to try Copilot’s features for yourself:
Intelligent Autocompletion: Get context-sensitive code completions and entire functions suggested based on your current file and coding patterns.
Refactoring Assistance: Let Copilot suggest cleaner, more efficient ways of implementing the same logic, reducing technical debt over time.
Automated Test Generation: Speed up QA cycles by having Copilot propose test cases, ensuring that your code is robust and well-verified.
Seamless GitHub Integration: Copilot fits neatly into GitHub’s ecosystem, enhancing your coding experience alongside GitHub Actions, Codespaces, and repository workflows.
Will This Be Enough to compete with Cursor and Windsurf?
Only time will tell if making Copilot free and integrating Claude 3.5 Sonnet can stem the flow of users to competing tools. With no cost to you, it’s worth taking Copilot for a spin. Compare its suggestions, refactoring capabilities, and project-level understanding with whatever else you’re using.
If Copilot’s improved intelligence, broader lifecycle support, and ecosystem integration resonate with your coding style, GitHub’s gamble may pay off in a big way. If not, the competition is just a few clicks away. In a booming AI tools market, developers ultimately reap the benefits—better quality, more choice, and continuous innovation.
Go ahead, Give it a try, put it through its paces, and decide for yourself if GitHub’s strategic pivot is a winner.