Microsoft-owned service for software developers GitHub has announced the release of a free version of the AI code completion tool Copilot, which will now also be provided by default with the Microsoft VS Code editor.
Image source: Microsoft
GitHub also reported that the number of its users has reached 150 million, while at the beginning of 2023, 100 million developers used the platform.
Previously, the monthly fee for using Copilot for most developers was $10 or more, and only a limited number of programmers, including students, teachers and Open Source developers, could use it for free.
The free version of Copilot is aimed at occasional users, and not at those involved in large projects, as it has a number of limitations. Its users will only have access to 2,000 code completions per month, and this limit counts every code suggestion Copilot makes, not just accepted ones. Free users will also only be able to use Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet and OpenAI’s GPT-4o, while paid access also includes Google’s Gemini 1.5 Pro and OpenAI’s o1-preview and o1-mini.
Additionally, Copilot chat messages are limited to 50 per month. Otherwise, developers will have access to all Copilot extensions and skills.
GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke told TechCrunch that to determine the threshold between casual users and professional developers for setting the limits of the free version, the service team studied Copilot usage data over the past few years.