GitHub Announces Free Version of Programming Assistant Copilot, Supporting GPT-4o Model with Up to 2000 Uses per Month
Brook.X
GitHub has recently unveiled a free version of GitHub Copilot, designed for users and developers who make occasional use of this feature. Additionally, GitHub Copilot will now be available alongside the Microsoft Visual Studio Code editor.
Previously, access to GitHub Copilot required a subscription, starting at $10 per month, though verified students, teachers, and maintainers of open-source projects could apply for free access.
The new free version supports the OpenAI GPT-4o model and the Anthropic Claude 3.5 Sonnet model. Given its complimentary nature, it is intended for sporadic use, with a cap of 2000 uses per month. Each code suggestion by Copilot counts towards this usage limit.
Developers can still utilize the GitHub Copilot extension and other skills, with a limit of 50 messages in Copilot Chat. Those needing more extensive use may consider the paid version.
Subscribing to the paid version grants access to additional models, such as the Google Gemini 1.5 Pro model and the OpenAI GPT-o1-preview and OpenAI GPT-o1-mini versions, offering superior capabilities.
GitHub CEO Matthias Balk stated:
"Our mission is to enable a billion users worldwide to become developers. It's clear that, whether in Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, India, or Indonesia, $10 is much more relative to their average income. Therefore, we aim to make more aspiring developers or those using Copilot in these countries become more efficient and happier developers."
"With the new free version, we're returning to the essence of the freemium model, laying the groundwork for greater endeavors: Artificial Intelligence is our best path to achieving one billion developers, and there should be no barriers to experiencing the joy of software development."
