Short answer: the free tier is enough for hobbyists and light use. Pay if completions are part of your daily paid work — the jump from capped completions to unlimited-plus-chat is the whole value. Skip the paid tier if you already pay for an agentic editor like Cursor; two AI coding subscriptions is the overlap we flag most.
What the paid plan actually buys
- Unlimited completions and higher chat/agent limits vs the capped free tier
- Model choice and priority features on premium tiers
- Free for verified students — check before paying
Current verified plan structure: GitHub Copilot review.
A one-week test
Use the free tier on your real repo for a week. Log every moment the cap stopped you mid-task. If it happened on most working days, the paid tier pays for itself in saved minutes; if it never did, keep free.
When it is NOT worth it
- You already pay for Cursor or another AI IDE — see Cursor vs Copilot
- You code a few hours a month — the free tier covers it
- Your org blocks cloud AI on source code — check policy before paying
Plan structure checked against official sources. Confirm current prices on the vendor page before purchasing.