Does GitHub or GitHub Copilot have a free plan?

Both do. GitHub and GitHub Copilot each offer a free tier, so you can try either without paying.

How long is the GitHub and GitHub Copilot free trial?

GitHub offers a 30-day free trial, and GitHub Copilot offers a 30-day free trial.

Which is easier to use, GitHub or GitHub Copilot?

In VERILO's editorial assessment GitHub Copilot is the easier of the two, scoring 4 out of 5 against 3 for GitHub. That is a judgement about how quickly a new team gets productive, not a measured benchmark.

GitHub vs GitHub Copilot

A side-by-side look at GitHub and GitHub Copilot: what each costs to start, whether there is a free plan, how easy they are to pick up, and which features and integrations they cover.

Which should you choose?

Choose GitHub if

Software teams of any size hosting code and reviewing pull requests
Open-source projects and public developer communities
Teams that want CI/CD and issue tracking alongside their code

Visit GitHub

Choose GitHub Copilot if

Teams already hosting code on GitHub
Individual developers who want completion, chat and an agent in one subscription
Students and open-source maintainers eligible for free access

Visit GitHub Copilot

Cheapest to start

Not confirmed

Free plan

GitHub, GitHub Copilot

Highest editor rating

GitHub · 4.7

Comparison of GitHub and GitHub Copilot
Compare	GitHub Visit site	GitHub Copilot Visit site
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Free trial	Yes	Yes
Starting price	From $4/mo	From $10/mo
Editor rating	4.7	4.5
Ease of use	Moderate (3/5)	Easy (4/5)
Category	Development	Development
Pricing model	Free plan with unlimited repositories; Team is $4 per user per month; Enterprise is $21 per user per month; Copilot is a separate add-on from $10 per month for individuals.	Free tier with monthly caps; Pro is $10 per month and Pro+ $39 per month for individuals, while Business ($19) and Enterprise ($39) are billed per user per month. Premium requests beyond plan allowances cost $0.04 each.
Plans	Free — Free Team — $4/user/mo Enterprise — $21/user/mo Copilot Pro — $10/user/mo	Free — Free Pro — $10/mo Business — $19/user/mo Enterprise — $39/user/mo
Platforms	Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, API, CLI	Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, CLI
Integrations	Jira, Microsoft Teams, Slack	GitHub
Best for	Software teams of any size hosting code and reviewing pull requests Open-source projects and public developer communities Teams that want CI/CD and issue tracking alongside their code	Teams already hosting code on GitHub Individual developers who want completion, chat and an agent in one subscription Students and open-source maintainers eligible for free access
Pros	Largest developer community and open-source ecosystem Actions CI/CD, Projects, Packages and Pages included in one platform Free plan includes unlimited private repositories Copilot brings completion, chat and agents directly into the pull request workflow Extensive API, webhooks and Marketplace apps	Works in nearly every major editor plus GitHub.com and the GitHub Mobile app Choice of models from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google Coding agent can take an assigned issue and open a pull request unattended Free tier, plus free access for students, teachers and open-source maintainers Business and Enterprise plans include IP indemnity and organization-wide policies
Cons	Copilot is a separate per-user charge on top of plan seats Actions minutes and storage overages on private repositories can surprise teams Projects and issue tracking are lighter than dedicated tools such as Jira SAML SSO and enterprise controls require the $21 per user Enterprise tier	Premium request caps make agent-heavy use expensive beyond the headline price Deepest integration is with VS Code; other editors lag on new features Codebase-wide knowledge bases require the Enterprise tier Suggestions still need review; quality drops on unfamiliar or internal APIs
AI agents	Yes	Yes
AI assistant	Yes	Yes
API access	Yes	No
Audit logs	No	Yes
CI/CD & preview deployments	Yes	No
Code completion	Yes	Yes
Code review	Yes	Yes
Git integration	Yes	Yes
Kanban boards	Yes	No
Mobile app	No	Yes
Roles & permissions	Yes	Yes
SSO / SAML	Yes	No
Two-factor authentication	Yes	No
Webhooks	Yes	No

Common questions

Does GitHub or GitHub Copilot have a free plan?: Both do. GitHub and GitHub Copilot each offer a free tier, so you can try either without paying.
How long is the GitHub and GitHub Copilot free trial?: GitHub offers a 30-day free trial, and GitHub Copilot offers a 30-day free trial.
Which is easier to use, GitHub or GitHub Copilot?: In VERILO's editorial assessment GitHub Copilot is the easier of the two, scoring 4 out of 5 against 3 for GitHub. That is a judgement about how quickly a new team gets productive, not a measured benchmark.

GitHub vs GitHub Copilot

Which should you choose?

Common questions

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