GitHub Copilot

What it does

GitHub Copilot is an AI coding assistant that lives inside your editor. It provides inline code completions as you type, a chat interface for asking questions about your code, and the ability to generate functions or blocks from natural language comments. The completions are powered by large language models and draw context from the file you are working in, open tabs, and — in newer versions — your broader repository. Copilot supports a wide range of languages and frameworks, with particularly strong performance in Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Go, and Ruby. It also integrates with the GitHub platform: pull request summaries, code review suggestions, and CLI assistance are part of the broader Copilot ecosystem.

Who it's for

The primary audience is developers who want AI assistance without switching editors. If you use VS Code, a JetBrains IDE, Neovim, or even Xcode, Copilot meets you where you already work. Teams with mixed editor preferences benefit from a single AI tool that works across all of them. GitHub-heavy workflows get extra value from the platform integration — Copilot can summarize pull requests, suggest reviewers, and help write commit messages. It is less suited for developers who need deep multi-file refactoring capabilities or who want the AI to understand their entire codebase at a structural level. For those use cases, a dedicated AI editor like Cursor currently goes further.

Editor integration

Copilot's strongest advantage is breadth of editor support. The VS Code extension is mature and responsive. JetBrains support covers IntelliJ, PyCharm, WebStorm, and the rest of the family. Neovim users get a plugin that works with the completion engine. This means a team of five developers using three different editors can all use the same AI assistant with consistent behavior. The quality of completions is comparable across editors, though the chat experience is most polished in VS Code. Setup is straightforward — install the extension, authenticate with GitHub, and it starts working.

The bottom line

GitHub Copilot is the safe, reliable choice for AI-assisted coding. It does not offer the deep codebase understanding or multi-file editing of Cursor, but it works well in more editors and integrates naturally with the GitHub platform millions of developers already use. At $10 per month for unlimited completions and chat, the pricing is hard to argue with. The free tier is limited but functional enough for occasional use. If you want AI coding help without changing your editor or workflow, Copilot delivers consistent value.