What is GitHub Copilot?

Learn what Copilot is and what you can do with it.

In this article

GitHub Copilot is an AI coding assistant that helps you write code faster and with less effort. Then, you can focus more energy on problem solving and collaboration.

Research shows that Copilot increases developer productivity and accelerates software development. See Research: quantifying GitHub Copilot’s impact on developer productivity and happiness in the GitHub blog.

Features

You can use Copilot to:

  • Get code suggestions as you type in your IDE.
  • Chat with Copilot to get help with your code.
  • Ask for help using the command line.
  • Organize and share context with Copilot Spaces to get more relevant answers.
  • Generate descriptions of changes in a pull request.
  • Research, plan, make code changes, and create pull requests for you to review.

For enterprises and organizations with data residency requirements: If you use GitHub Enterprise Cloud, Copilot can enforce geographic data residency. See GitHub Copilot with data residency.

Use Copilot in the following places:

  • Your IDE
  • GitHub Mobile, as a chat interface
  • Windows Terminal Canary, through the Terminal Chat interface
  • The command line, through the GitHub CLI
  • The GitHub Copilot app, a desktop application for agent-driven development. See About the GitHub Copilot app.
  • The GitHub website

See GitHub Copilot features.

Get access

You can start using Copilot in several ways, depending on your role and needs.

Individuals

  • Try Copilot for free. Use Copilot Free to explore core features with no paid plan required.
  • Subscribe to a paid plan. Upgrade to Copilot Pro, Copilot Pro+, or Copilot Max for access to premium features, increased access to models, and higher available monthly allowance of AI credits.
  • Get free access if you're eligible. Students, teachers, and open source maintainers may qualify for access to premium features at no cost. See Access GitHub Copilot for free as a student and Access Copilot Pro for free as a teacher or open source maintainer.
  • Request access from your organization. If your organization or enterprise has a GitHub Copilot plan, you can request access by going to https://github.com/settings/copilot and request access under "Get Copilot from an organization."

See Getting started with a GitHub Copilot plan for more information.

Organizations and enterprises

Owners of organizations on GitHub Free or GitHub Team can purchase Copilot Business for their organization. Subscribe to Copilot Business.

If your organization is owned by an enterprise that has a Copilot subscription, you can ask your enterprise owner to enable Copilot for your organization. Go to https://github.com/settings/copilot and request access under "Get Copilot from an organization."

Enterprise owners can set up Copilot Business or Copilot Enterprise for their enterprise.

  • If you want to pay by credit card or PayPal, subscribe here.

    Note

    If you are currently in a trial of GitHub Enterprise Cloud, you must convert to a paid enterprise before you can purchase GitHub Copilot.

  • For other payment methods, contact GitHub's Sales team.

Next steps

Further reading