Pick ChatGPT if
everyone who wants a hosted general assistant — writing, Q&A, light research, images.
Read the ChatGPT pageChatGPT vs GitHub Copilot
Our take
Pick ChatGPT if everyone who wants a hosted general assistant — writing, Q&A, light research, images. Pick GitHub Copilot if developers already in GitHub who want completions and chat without switching to a separate AI IDE. Skip ChatGPT if teams that cannot send prompts to OpenAI, or developers who need a repo-aware IDE (Cursor) or a local runtime (Ollama). Skip GitHub Copilot if teams that cannot send code to
Best for
ChatGPT A general-purpose conversation
GitHub Copilot Code in a real editor
Free plan
ChatGPT $0 · unlimited everyday text chats (abuse guardrails). Limited uploads, images, voice, deep research, memory, Codex, and desktop Work. Confirmed as the free plan on chatgpt.com/pricing copy and Help
GitHub Copilot $0 · limited completions and chat
Lowest paid
ChatGPT Plus $20/mo, monthly only
GitHub Copilot Pro $10/mo
Next step up
ChatGPT Pro $100 / $200 / $500 per month
GitHub Copilot Pro+ $39/mo
Coding agent
ChatGPT Codex, rate-limited on Free
GitHub Copilot Agent + Tab inside the editor
Runs where
ChatGPT Local or hosted
GitHub Copilot
Watch out
ChatGPT chatgpt.com/pricing HTML still hides $
GitHub Copilot Flex credits are not unlimited Agent
Last checked
ChatGPT 2026-10-19 · help.openai.com
GitHub Copilot 2026-10-19 · github.com/features/copilot
Which one, then?
Pick GitHub Copilot if
developers already in GitHub who want completions and chat without switching to a separate AI IDE.
Read the GitHub Copilot page