---
title: "Visual Studio Code pricing, platforms and integrations"
description: "Microsoft's free editor. Agent mode, chat and inline suggestions come from GitHub Copilot, and Claude Code, Codex, Cline and other agents install as extensions."
canonical_url: "https://whichcoding.tools/tools/vscode"
---
# Visual Studio Code

> Microsoft's free editor. Agent mode, chat and inline suggestions come from GitHub Copilot, and Claude Code, Codex, Cline and other agents install as extensions.

- **Layer**: AI-native IDE
- **Vendor**: Microsoft
- **Platforms**: macOS, Windows, Linux, Web
- **License**: MIT
- **Pricing**: Free
- **Status**: Active
- **JSON**: /api/v1/tools/vscode.json

## Links

- [Website](https://code.visualstudio.com)
- [Repo](https://github.com/microsoft/vscode)
- [Docs](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs)
- [Changelog](https://code.visualstudio.com/updates)

## Pricing

| Plan | Price | Included | Beyond that | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Free (individual) | Free | — | — | The editor is free with no trial and no credit card; Agent and chat usage is metered by the Copilot plan or the agent you sign in with |

VS Code has no price of its own. Extensions in this directory that run inside it, such as Cline, list vscode in their hosts.

Source: [code.visualstudio.com](https://code.visualstudio.com), verified 2026-09-28.

## Works with

What Visual Studio Code runs, and what can run Visual Studio Code. "With your existing login" means the wrapped tool's subscription is reused, no second bill.

### Runs

- [GitHub Copilot](https://whichcoding.tools/tools/github-copilot) (via extension, Free with your existing login): GitHub's assistant for VS Code, JetBrains, Visual Studio, Xcode and Neovim, with a cloud agent. Paid plans meter agent usage in AI credits. The built-in agent, chat and inline suggestions are GitHub Copilot, installed as the Copilot Chat extension and billed by the Copilot plan on your GitHub account. Copilot Free is assigned when you sign in without a plan.
- [Claude Code](https://whichcoding.tools/tools/claude-code) (via extension, Free with your existing login): Anthropic's terminal agent. Reads the codebase, edits files and runs commands, with a VS Code and JetBrains extension and a web surface on the same engine. The Claude Code extension signs in with a paid Claude plan or a Console account. The Agents window also offers a Claude harness when it finds an existing Claude configuration.
- [Codex CLI](https://whichcoding.tools/tools/codex-cli) (via extension, Free with your existing login): OpenAI's open source terminal agent. Signs in with a ChatGPT account and shares the plan's usage window, or bills an API key at token prices. The Codex extension signs in with ChatGPT or an API key and shares its cached login with the Codex CLI.

## Models

- **Providers**: Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI, Moonshot
- **Bring your own key**: Partial BYOK
- **Local models**: Yes
- **Signs in with**: GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT

Hosted models come from the GitHub Copilot plan you sign in with. Built-in BYOK providers cover Azure, Anthropic, Gemini, OpenAI and custom endpoints, and the Ollama extension adds local models, with no GitHub account or Copilot plan needed. BYOK applies to chat and utility tasks only, inline suggestions and semantic search still need Copilot. The Agents window can also sign in to ChatGPT for the Codex harness.

## Features

- **Git worktrees**: One isolated checkout per task
- **Parallel agents**: Several agents running at once
- **Subagents**: The agent can delegate to child agents
- **MCP client**: Connects to MCP servers
- **Browser automation**: Drives a browser to verify UI
- **Sandboxing**: Runs commands in an isolated sandbox
- **Remote execution**: Runs on a remote machine or over SSH
- **Diff review**: Review and annotate changes in the tool
- **Checkpoints**: Snapshot and roll back agent changes
- **Plugins**: Extensible through plugins or a marketplace
- **Hooks**: Run your own commands at lifecycle points
- **Tab completion**: Inline code completions while typing

## Install

- **download**: [code.visualstudio.com/download](https://code.visualstudio.com/download)
- **brew**: `brew install --cask visual-studio-code`
- **winget**: `winget install Microsoft.VisualStudioCode`

## License

- **SPDX**: MIT
- **Kind**: Open source
- **Repo**: [github.com/microsoft/vscode](https://github.com/microsoft/vscode)

The microsoft/vscode repository (Code - OSS) is MIT. The Visual Studio Code build Microsoft ships adds its own customizations under a Microsoft product license, so the binaries people download are proprietary while the source is open.

## Sources

Every fact above points at a vendor page and the date someone last checked it.

| Source | Covers | Verified |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [code.visualstudio.com](https://code.visualstudio.com) | pricing, platforms, general | 2026-09-28 |
| [code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/setup](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/setup) | pricing, wraps | 2026-09-28 |
| [code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/overview](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/overview) | wraps, features, models, general | 2026-08-23 |
| [code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/customization/language-models](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/customization/language-models) | models | 2026-08-23 |
| [code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/agents/overview](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/agents/overview) | features, wraps | 2026-08-23 |
| [code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/agents/agents-window](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/agents/agents-window) | wraps, models | 2026-08-23 |
| [code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/chat/copilot-chat](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/copilot/chat/copilot-chat) | features | 2026-08-23 |
| [github.com/microsoft/vscode](https://github.com/microsoft/vscode) | license, platforms | 2026-08-23 |
| [code.claude.com/docs/en/vs-code](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/vs-code) | wraps | 2026-08-23 |
| [learn.chatgpt.com/docs/codex/ide](https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/codex/ide) | wraps | 2026-08-23 |
| [learn.chatgpt.com/docs/auth](https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/auth) | wraps | 2026-08-23 |

Source data: [content/tools/vscode.yml](https://github.com/benjamincanac/whichcodingtools/blob/main/content/tools/vscode.yml)

## Related

- [Compare Visual Studio Code with another tool](https://whichcoding.tools/compare?tools=vscode)
- [All AI-native IDEs](https://whichcoding.tools/layers/editor)
- [Everything on ChatGPT](https://whichcoding.tools/plans/chatgpt)
- [Everything on GitHub Copilot](https://whichcoding.tools/plans/copilot)

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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