---
title: "GitHub Copilot vs Visual Studio Code"
description: "GitHub Copilot is an editor extension, Visual Studio Code is an AI-native IDE. Visual Studio Code runs GitHub Copilot on the login you already have for it."
canonical_url: "https://whichcoding.tools/compare/github-copilot-vs-vscode"
---
# GitHub Copilot vs Visual Studio Code

> GitHub Copilot is an editor extension by GitHub. Visual Studio Code is an AI-native IDE by Microsoft. Every cell below is read from the directory data and points back to a vendor page.

## General

|  | GitHub Copilot | Visual Studio Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Layer | Editor extension, Cloud agent | AI-native IDE |
| Vendor | GitHub | Microsoft |
| Website | [github.com/features/copilot](https://github.com/features/copilot) | [code.visualstudio.com](https://code.visualstudio.com) |
| Platforms | macOS, Windows, Linux, Web | macOS, Windows, Linux, Web |
| License | Proprietary (Proprietary) | MIT (Open source) |
| Status | active | active |

## Pricing

|  | GitHub Copilot | Visual Studio Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Entry price | Free | Free |
| Top individual plan | $100/mo | Free |
| Team plan | $19/user/mo | — |
| Included usage | 1,500 credits/mo (Copilot Pro, worth about $15) | — |
| Beyond the plan | Blocked, Credit packs | — |
| Part of a plan | GitHub Copilot | — |

## Models

|  | GitHub Copilot | Visual Studio Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Providers | OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, Moonshot | OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, Moonshot |
| Bring your own key | Partial BYOK | Partial BYOK |
| Local models | Yes | Yes |

## Features

|  | GitHub Copilot | Visual Studio Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Git worktrees | No | Yes |
| Parallel agents | No | Yes |
| Subagents | No | Yes |
| MCP client | Yes | Yes |
| ACP agent | Yes | No |
| Browser automation | No | Yes |
| Sandboxing | Yes | Yes |
| Remote execution | Yes | Yes |
| Diff review | Yes | Yes |
| Checkpoints | No | Yes |
| Plugins | No | Yes |
| Hooks | Yes | Yes |
| Tab completion | Yes | Yes |

## Works with

|  | GitHub Copilot | Visual Studio Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Runs | — | GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Codex CLI |
| Runs inside | Visual Studio Code | — |
| Pricing verified | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-28 |

## Related

[Add more tools](https://whichcoding.tools/compare?tools=github-copilot,vscode), up to four at a time.

Data: CC BY 4.0. Credit whichcoding.tools and link to https://whichcoding.tools. Full terms in [LICENSE-DATA](https://github.com/benjamincanac/whichcodingtools/blob/main/LICENSE-DATA).

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