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It's a split decision.
Choose GitHub Copilot for coding work tied to repositories, issues, pull requests, and code review. Its paid plan starts at $10 per user per month, and its Free plan lists 2,000 monthly completions. Choose ChatGPT for general conversation, file uploads, image generation, and research, with Go starting at $8 per month. ChatGPT Business has published seat prices; Copilot Business pricing is not listed on the pricing page. Both offer free plans, but ChatGPT’s caps are not published.
01Side by side
| GitHub Copilot | ChatGPT | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $10/month paid; Free available | $8/month Go; Free available |
| Free plan | 2,000 completions per month | Caps not published |
| Best for | Coding in GitHub workflows | Chat, research, and images |
| Core strength | Repository-linked coding and review | Broad conversational AI tools |
| Learning curve | Not specified in source | Not specified in source |
| Integrations/data | Issues, pull requests, repository history | Uploads and saved chat history |
| Team/seat costs | Business price not published | $20–$25/user monthly; two-seat minimum |
| Support | Free plan: community support only | Not specified in source |
GitHub Copilot Choose GitHub Copilot if
- Choose GitHub Copilot if coding inside GitHub is your main use.
- Choose GitHub Copilot if you want issue- and repository-linked sessions.
- Choose GitHub Copilot if code review and agent workflows matter most.
ChatGPT Choose ChatGPT if
- Choose ChatGPT if you want a lower-cost paid starting plan.
- Choose ChatGPT if you need chat, images, file uploads, and research.
- Choose ChatGPT if published Business seat pricing matters.
02Pricing compared
GitHub Copilot starts at $10 per user per month for Pro, while ChatGPT Go starts at $8 per month for one seat. Both have free plans, but the limits are not equally clear: Copilot Free lists 2,000 monthly completions; ChatGPT Free lists limited access to uploads, image creation, deep research, voice, and Codex without publishing caps. Copilot’s pricing page lists Pro+ at $39 and Max at $100 per user per month, with additional AI credits available. ChatGPT Plus costs $20 monthly; Pro starts at $100 and has higher tiers up to $500. ChatGPT Business is $25 per seat monthly or $20 annually, with a two-seat minimum. Copilot Business pricing is not published on the page, while Enterprise requires a sales quote. Copilot lists paid plans as monthly flat fees, with no annual discount shown.
03Features and depth
Copilot is the more repository-focused option. Its sessions can connect to GitHub issues, discussions, and repository context; separate sessions let users delegate parallel tasks; and work can continue across the app, CLI, editor, github.com, or mobile. The feature set also includes recurring agent tasks, code review for local changes and pull requests, and model selection. Copilot Pro includes cloud access, code review, and access to third-party agents such as Claude Code and Codex, according to the plan details.
ChatGPT is broader rather than centered on repository workflow. Its listed features include conversational answers, image generation, file and image uploads, saved chat history, and Deep research. Plus adds projects, scheduled tasks, custom GPTs, advanced reasoning models, and expanded Codex/Work usage. The pricing details do not specify exact message or upload caps for most plans. Choose Copilot when GitHub context and code review are central; choose ChatGPT when you want one assistant for conversation, research, files, and images.
04Ease of use and learning curve
ChatGPT’s basic workflow is direct: type a question and get a conversational answer. Logged-in users can also upload files and images, and saved chats can inform later answers. That makes it the simpler starting point for general questions, though the plan page leaves many usage caps unpublished.
Copilot fits more naturally into work already organized in GitHub, with sessions connected to issues and repository context and access across GitHub’s app, CLI, editor, website, and mobile. That breadth can reduce context-switching for coding tasks, but the value depends on using those workflows. Copilot Free lists 2,000 monthly completions; Pro is $10 per user monthly. ChatGPT Free has no published caps for its limited tools.
Questions people ask
How does Copilot compare to other AI?
Copilot is aimed at coding work connected to GitHub repositories, issues, pull requests, and code review. ChatGPT covers more general chat, research, file uploads, and image generation, and also lists Codex access on some plans. The better fit depends on whether repository workflow or broader assistant features matter more.
Is Copilot AI Chat free?
GitHub Copilot has a Free plan at $0 that lists 2,000 completions per month, access to several models, and Copilot CLI. It does not list a separate chat-only plan. ChatGPT also has a free plan, but its caps for tools such as uploads and deep research are not published.
Why don't people like Copilot?
We can’t generalize from the published review material. One Reddit thread reports that Copilot’s value eroded in 2026, and the review gives user sentiment a 5 out of 10. The pricing page lists paid plans from $10 per user monthly, plus additional-credit options, which may affect how users judge value.
Is anyone still using GitHub Copilot?
The published material does not include usage or subscriber figures, so we can’t quantify how many people still use it. GitHub lists active Free, Pro, Pro+, Max, Business, and Enterprise offerings, with features for coding, agents, and code review; that establishes product availability, not adoption.