JetBrains AI Assistant vs GitHub Copilot
JetBrains AI Assistant and GitHub Copilot side by side: what each one is, what it costs to start, and whether you can try it free. Everything below comes from the vendors' own sites and other public sources, not from hands-on testing.
At a glance
| JetBrains AI Assistant | GitHub Copilot | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Code & Dev Tools | Code & Dev Tools |
| Starting price | Free; paid plans from $10/mo | Free; paid plans from $10/mo (checked October 2026) |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Profile | Read profile | Read profile |
Prices are in US dollars unless shown otherwise. Confirm the current price on the vendor's site before you buy.
Key differences
Both list a free tier, so you can try each before paying.
Their starting paid plans are listed at the same price, $10/mo.
Both are in our Code & Dev Tools category.
About each tool
JetBrains AI Assistant
AI chat, completion and agents inside JetBrains IDEs. AI Free is $0; AI Pro is listed at $10 (the help page also shows $20); billing period not stated.
Who it is for
It suits developers who already work in JetBrains IDEs and want AI features inside the editor. JetBrains also sells licenses to organizations, with admin-managed data settings and, for organizations migrated to JetBrains Central, a shared credit pool.
Strengths
- JetBrains says code completion and Next edit suggestions do not use AI quota, and that AI Free includes unlimited use of local models (via Ollama, LM Studio or another OpenAI-compatible server) plus a limited cloud quota.
- JetBrains lists cloud models from OpenAI, Google, Anthropic and xAI, bring-your-own-key support for Anthropic, OpenAI and other OpenAI-compatible providers, and code completion on its own Mellum model.
- The agents page lists Junie, Claude Agent, Codex and GitHub Copilot as built-in options, and the help says any agent that supports the Agent Client Protocol (ACP) can be connected. MCP tools are supported.
- JetBrains says quota is shared across all supported IDEs under one JetBrains Account, and AI features are available in all JetBrains IDEs and Android Studio (the feature set varies by IDE).
- JetBrains says data sharing is opt-in for all paid licenses (company admins can control it centrally) and that it does not work with LLM providers that use customer data for model training.
Limitations
- The help page does not state a billing period for the prices, and the official buy and store pages returned no plan text when read, so billing terms, refunds and cancellation could not be confirmed.
GitHub Copilot
GitHub's AI coding assistant: completions, chat, code review and agents in VS Code, JetBrains, Visual Studio, Xcode and on GitHub. Free plan; Pro is $10 a month.
Who it is for
Individual developers, students, and teams or enterprises that want AI help inside their editors and GitHub workflows. GitHub sells separate individual, Business and Enterprise plans, with admin budgets and pooled credits for organizations.
Strengths
- A free plan is available, with 2,000 code completions a month and limited chat and agent use
- GitHub's feature matrix lists VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains IDEs, Xcode, Neovim and Eclipse, plus GitHub.com, GitHub Mobile and the command line
- On paid plans, code completions and next edit suggestions do not use AI credits
- Copilot Student is free for verified students, and GitHub says verified teachers and popular open-source maintainers may be eligible for free Copilot Pro
- Business and Enterprise plans pool credits across the organization, with admin budgets at enterprise, cost-center and user level
Limitations
- Usage is metered in AI credits (1 credit equals $0.01) based on token use. Included credits reset monthly and do not carry over
- On individual plans, Copilot pauses once the included credits run out unless you turn on paid additional usage and set a budget
- Annual Pro and Pro+ subscribers stay on the older premium-request system until the plan expires (300 and 1,500 requests a month, $0.04 per extra request), then move to Free
