GitHub Copilot vs Windsurf
AI Coding prices verified 2026-06-11Pricing & plans compared head-to-head — every number below comes from the official pricing pages, not third-party listicles.
Quick verdict
💸 GitHub Copilot has the cheaper paid entry point: $10/mo vs $20/mo — you save $10/mo.
🆓 Both have free tiers — GitHub Copilot: Limited chat and agent usage; CLI and agent mode supported · Windsurf: Unlimited tab completions free — the most generous base tier in AI coding
🎯 Pick GitHub Copilot if: The lowest-cost serious entry into AI coding — and the default if your team already lives on GitHub.
🎯 Pick Windsurf if: Developers who want Cursor-style agentic coding but a genuinely usable free tier.
Entry prices are each tool's lowest advertised per-month rate — billing terms (monthly vs annual) differ by tool. The plan tables below show both columns.
GitHub Copilot plans
| Plan | Monthly | Annual (per mo) | Included | Key features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Free | Limited chat & agent usage | CLI and agent mode included |
| Pro | $10 | — | $15/mo included AI credits | Unlimited completions & next-edit suggestions · 3rd-party agents (Claude Code, Codex) · Model selection |
| Pro+ | $39 | — | $70/mo included AI credits | Premium models incl. Opus · Audit logs · 4x+ included usage vs Pro |
| Max | $100 | — | $200/mo included AI credits | Priority access to new models · Built for sustained agent workflows |
Note: Business/Enterprise seats are no longer on the consumer plans page; org buyers go through GitHub's enterprise channel.
Try GitHub Copilot → Full GitHub Copilot pricing
Windsurf plans
| Plan | Monthly | Annual (per mo) | Included | Key features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Free | Unlimited tab completions | Limited agent credits |
| Pro | $20 | — | Monthly agent credits | Cascade agent · Frontier models |
| Max | $200 | — | Power-user quotas |
Try Windsurf → Full Windsurf pricing
Quality signals — what authoritative sources say
GitHub Copilot
No reliable third-party review score published for this tool yet — we don't invent scores to fill the gap.
💪 Native GitHub/VS Code integration at half the price of Cursor Pro
Windsurf
No reliable third-party review score published for this tool yet — we don't invent scores to fill the gap.
💪 Unlimited free tab completion undercuts every competitor's entry offer
Quality data aggregated from G2, Trustpilot, and the Artificial Analysis Video Arena, checked 2026-06-11. We don't publish our own scores — only sourced, dated third-party signals. Methodology
Watch out for
GitHub Copilot
⚠️ Everything runs on AI credits (1 credit = $0.01) — the plan price is an entry point, and agent-heavy workflows bill beyond the included allowance.
Windsurf
⚠️ Pro was $15 until May 2026 — now $20, matching Cursor. Older comparisons quote the stale price.