GitHub makes AI coding assistant available to all for free
Microsoft-owned code repository GitHub has launched a free version of its AI-powered coding assistant, GitHub Copilot. The new iteration comes integrated into Visual Studio Code (VS Code), an integrated developer environment (IDE). The move comes as an effort to make the advanced code completion tool more accessible to developers with light usage needs and limited budgets. The announcement also comes as GitHub hits 150 million developers on its platform.
A new addition to free tools
GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke said the introduction of GitHub Copilot free version is in line with the company's tradition of offering free tools to developers. The company has previously offered free repositories, CI/CD minutes, and Codespaces. Now, with Copilot free, GitHub hopes to serve casual users or those working on smaller-scale projects. This comes after their initiative of giving students, educators, and open-source maintainers free access to the more feature-rich Copilot Pro.
GitHub Copilot free version: Features and AI models
GitHub Copilot free version provides 2,000 code completions and 50 chat messages monthly to those who sign in with a personal GitHub account. The service employs advanced AI models such as Anthropic's Claude 3.5 Sonnet and OpenAI's GPT-4o. These models help developers with coding queries, debugging existing code, or modifying code across multiple files. However, premium AI models like Google's Gemini 1.5 Pro and OpenAI's o1-preview are only available with Pro and other paid plans.
Additional perks and availability
GitHub Copilot free tier also comes with multi-file editing, terminal assistance, custom instructions, voice commands, and project context awareness. It is available in VS Code and on GitHub.com now. To get started, developers need a GitHub account. Along with these offerings, GitHub is previewing an advanced feature called Vision Copilot that lets developers create UIs from screenshots or markup, simplifying design-to-code workflow. While still in preview, it requires users to supply their own API key to access AI services.
