GitHub Copilot vs Claude Code pricing (October 2026)

Generated from vendor pricing pages, fetched 2026-10-16. Always confirm on the vendor page.

Which is cheaper for you?

Both list a free plan. GitHub Copilot free: Limited chat and agent usage. Claude Code free: No Claude Code.

GitHub Copilot is cheaper to start paying for: Pro at $10/month ($15/mo total AI credits ($10 base + $5 flex)) vs Claude Code Pro at $20/month (Includes Claude Code; usage limits apply).

Price is not the whole story: GitHub Copilot bills as "Seat price plus GitHub AI Credits (token-based since June 1, 2026)", Claude Code as "Subscription with session/weekly usage limits; or API pay-as-you-go". Heavy users should compare the limits below.

Try your own numbers in the workload calculator.

Side by side

	GitHub Copilot	Claude Code
Billing model	Seat price plus GitHub AI Credits (token-based since June 1, 2026)	Subscription with session/weekly usage limits; or API pay-as-you-go
Free plan	Limited chat and agent usage	No Claude Code
Cheapest paid plan	Pro $10/mo - $15/mo total AI credits ($10 base + $5 flex)	Pro $20/mo - Includes Claude Code; usage limits apply
Top individual plan	Max $100/mo - $200/mo total AI credits ($100 base + $100 flex)	Max 20x $200/mo - 20x Pro usage; $200/mo API credits

GitHub Copilot plans

Plan	USD/month	Limits
Free	Free	Limited chat and agent usage
Pro	$10	$15/mo total AI credits ($10 base + $5 flex)
Pro+	$39	$70/mo total AI credits ($39 base + $31 flex)
Max	$100	$200/mo total AI credits ($100 base + $100 flex)

Source: https://github.com/features/copilot/plans, fetched 2026-10-16.

Claude Code plans

Plan	USD/month	Limits
Free	Free	No Claude Code
Pro	$20 ($17 annual)	Includes Claude Code; usage limits apply
Max 5x	$100	5x Pro usage; $100/mo API credits
Max 20x	$200	20x Pro usage; $200/mo API credits

Source: https://claude.com/pricing, fetched 2026-10-16.

Recent pricing changes

2026-06-01 GitHub Copilot: Copilot replaced premium requests with token-based GitHub AI Credits on every plan. Seat prices did not change. source
2026-05-29 GitHub Copilot: GitHub added Copilot Max at $100 a month, its top individual plan. source
2026-01-29 Claude Code: Claude Team Standard seats now include Claude Code and got cheaper. Premium seats dropped from $150 to $100 a month on annual billing. source
2025-08-28 Claude Code: Anthropic added weekly caps for Claude Pro and Max on top of the rolling 5-hour limits, including a separate Opus weekly cap. source
2025-06-18 GitHub Copilot: GitHub started enforcing premium request allowances: Pro 300, Pro+ 1,500, Business 300, Enterprise 1,000 a month, with extras at $0.04 each. source
2025-04-09 Claude Code: Anthropic launched Claude Max at $100 (5x Pro usage) and $200 (20x Pro usage). source
2025-04-04 GitHub Copilot: GitHub launched Copilot Pro+ at $39 a month with 1,500 premium requests. source