Visual Studio Code vs GitHub Copilot
Which is better in 2026? Five scores, side by side.
Visual Studio Code is the better app overall, scoring 9.2 to 8.6. Visual Studio Code wins on 5 of the 5 scores, GitHub Copilot on 0.
Coders of any level who want one free editor for every language
Developers on GitHub who want AI help inside their usual editor
Score by score
The details
| Feature | Visual Studio Code | GitHub Copilot |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Developer Tools | Developer Tools |
| Category rank | #1 of 13 | #9 of 13 |
| Developer | Microsoft | GitHub |
| Pricing | Free | Free + paid plans |
| Usable for free | Yes | Yes |
| iPhone & iPad | — | ✓ |
| Android | — | ✓ |
| Mac | ✓ | ✓ |
| Windows | ✓ | ✓ |
| Linux | ✓ | ✓ |
| Web | ✓ | ✓ |
Common questions
Is Visual Studio Code better than GitHub Copilot?
Visual Studio Code is the better app overall, scoring 9.2 to 8.6. Visual Studio Code wins on 5 of the 5 scores, GitHub Copilot on 0.
Which is cheaper, Visual Studio Code or GitHub Copilot?
Visual Studio Code: Free for any use; GitHub Copilot has a free tier, with Pro from $10/month. GitHub Copilot: Free: 2,000 completions a month; Pro is $10 a month, Pro+ $39 and Max $100. On value for money, Visual Studio Code scores higher.
Do Visual Studio Code and GitHub Copilot work on the same devices?
Only GitHub Copilot runs on iPhone & iPad, Android.
Which is more private, Visual Studio Code or GitHub Copilot?
Visual Studio Code scores higher on privacy (7.8/10). Collects crash, error and usage telemetry unless you set telemetry.telemetryLevel to off. Extensions have their own telemetry that this setting does not cover. No account or ads.
Strengths and weaknesses
Visual Studio Code
- Free, with a huge store of extensions
- Great tools for debugging, Git and remote coding
- Works on Mac, Windows, Linux and in your browser
- Lots of extensions can slow startup and eat memory
- Usage tracking stays on until you switch it off
Visual Studio Code is the go-to code editor for a reason. It's free and fast enough for big projects. Its extension store covers almost every language and tool. Git, debugging and remote coding are built in. Copilot now runs full agents with subagents, lasting sessions and shared canvases. The trade-offs: lots of extensions slow it down, and usage tracking stays on until you turn it off. Most developers should start here.
Full Visual Studio Code reviewGitHub Copilot
- Free tier and a $10 Pro plan
- Works inside the editors you already use
- Tight GitHub integration for issues and pull requests
- Credit-based billing makes heavy agent use harder to predict
- Individual plans train on your data unless you opt out
- Free plan limits chat, agents and model choice
GitHub Copilot started as autocomplete and is now a full set of coding agents. It suggests code in VS Code, JetBrains, Visual Studio, Xcode and more, runs agent mode in your editor, works from the terminal and a desktop app, and can take an issue and open a pull request on its own. You choose models from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and xAI. Since June 2026, chat and agents draw on monthly AI credits, so heavy use costs more.
Full GitHub Copilot review
