Is GitHub Copilot free?

GitHub Copilot Pricing

Is GitHub Copilot free? The answer to that question is both yes and no.

There is a free tier for GitHub Copilot.

As of this writing, GitHub Copilot’s free tier gives you 50 chat requests and 2,000 code completions per month.

That’s a generous, entry-level offering, and a great way to get started with the tool.

So, it’s fair to say that you don’t need to pay any money or even provide a credit card to start using GitHub Copilot. But does that really mean GitHub Copilot is free?

What does it mean to say Copilot is free?

To use the free tier, you still need to provide your personal information to GitHub, and they collect data about how you use the tool.

That seems like a fair exchange to me—but there’s a difference between two parties agreeing to a mutually beneficial exchange and truly getting something for free.

Maybe no money changed hands, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the product was free.

Protect your PIP

Your personal data is valuable.

Any time someone gives you something in exchange for your personal data, you have not been given something for free.

You have paid for it with your personal information, something organizations like Facebook and Twitter have made billions of dollars aggregating and selling.

But yes, if you want to use GitHub Copilot without opening your wallet or providing your credit card, you can. Most people would consider that getting something for free.

I don’t, though. I simply consider it a fair exchange.