What each one says about the other
These sentences were written about each tool on its own, before this page existed, and each names the other tool by name. They are quoted, not composed.
Claude Code on GitHub Copilot CLI · limitation
You cannot audit, fork or patch the agent: the repository publishes the changelog, plugins and examples, not the CLI source, under an all-rights-reserved licence. GitHub Copilot CLI is the only other tool in this set that does the same.
“© Anthropic PBC. All rights reserved. Use is subject to Anthropic's [Commercial Terms of Service](https://www.anthropic.com/legal/commercial-terms).”
Claude Code and GitHub Copilot CLI, fact by fact
| Fact | Claude Code | GitHub Copilot CLI |
|---|---|---|
| StarsClaude Code has 138,605 more stars (13×). | 149,849Verified 8 Oct 2026 | 11,244Verified 8 Oct 2026 |
| Newest commitBoth committed on the same day. | 8 Oct 20260 days old when we read itVerified 8 Oct 2026 | 7 Oct 20260 days old when we read itVerified 8 Oct 2026 |
| ContributorsClaude Code has 31 more contributors (2.2×). | 57Verified 8 Oct 2026 | 26Verified 8 Oct 2026 |
| License | not tracked for Claude Code | OtherVerified 8 Oct 2026 |
| Latest stable releaseBoth released on the same day. | v2.1.294published 8 Oct 2026Verified 8 Oct 2026 | v1.0.93published 7 Oct 2026Verified 8 Oct 2026 |
| npm downloadsClaude Code has 13,062,617 more npm downloads a week (8.6×). | 14,786,283 a week@anthropic-ai/claude-codeVerified 8 Oct 2026 | 1,723,666 a week@github/copilotVerified 8 Oct 2026 |
| Repository | anthropics/claude-codeTypeScriptVerified 8 Oct 2026 | github/copilot-cliShellVerified 8 Oct 2026 |
What we know about Claude Code
Claude Code runs only Anthropic models: every alias — default, best, fable, sonnet, opus, haiku and opusplan — resolves to a Claude model, and changing the base URL moves where the request goes without changing which model answers it.
“ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL changes where requests are sent, not which model answers them.”
Plan a change with Opus and execute it with Sonnet inside one session, by setting the model to `opusplan`.
“Special mode that uses opus during plan mode, then switches to sonnet for execution”
Run the agent on infrastructure your employer already approved: the model setting accepts an Amazon Bedrock inference profile ARN, a Microsoft Foundry deployment name, or a Google Cloud Agent Platform version name.
“Amazon Bedrock: an inference profile ARN”
Work one long task without losing history: `sonnet[1m]` gives a 1 million token context window, and auto-compaction runs below it.
“Uses Sonnet with a 1 million token context window for long sessions”
You cannot audit, fork or patch the agent: the repository publishes the changelog, plugins and examples, not the CLI source, under an all-rights-reserved licence. GitHub Copilot CLI is the only other tool in this set that does the same.
“© Anthropic PBC. All rights reserved. Use is subject to Anthropic's [Commercial Terms of Service](https://www.anthropic.com/legal/commercial-terms).”
Subscribers report the plan limit arriving far earlier than the plan implies: the repository's most-commented open issue carries 1,487 comments and 724 reactions and has stayed open since 2026-01-03.
“[BUG] Instantly hitting usage limits with Max subscription”
On API-key billing the cost is per token, and Anthropic's own enterprise figure is $150-250 per developer per month.
“Across enterprise deployments, the average cost is around $13 per developer per active day and $150-250 per developer per month, with costs remaining below $30 per active day for 90% of users.”
A developer who must run a local or self-hosted model should choose goose or Crush; both accept an Ollama endpoint.
“Local model runner supporting Qwen, Llama, DeepSeek, and other open-source models.”
What Claude Code costs
Claude Pro costs $17 per month on the annual plan, $200 billed up front, or $20 per month billed monthly; Max starts at $100 per month.
“Per month with annual subscription discount ($200 billed up front). $20 if billed monthly.”
Pro and Max subscribers do not pay per token for Claude Code; the usage sits inside the subscription.
“Claude Max and Pro subscribers have usage included in their subscription, so the session cost figure isn’t relevant for billing purposes.”
What we know about GitHub Copilot CLI
Copilot CLI bills the agent from a dollar-denominated credit balance rather than per token: Pro carries $15 of GitHub AI Credits a month, Pro+ $70 and Max $200.
“Credits used when interacting with Copilot features. Chat, agent mode, code review, Copilot cloud agent, Copilot CLI, and Copilot Apps consume GitHub AI Credits. Free plan supports CLI and agent mode.”
Work across code and GitHub state — issues, pull requests, repositories — in one session, because the agent ships with GitHub's MCP server enabled.
“- **MCP-powered extensibility:** Take advantage of the fact that the coding agent ships with GitHub's MCP server by default and supports custom MCP servers to extend capabilities.”
Hold one very long session: at 95% of the token limit Copilot compacts the history in the background instead of stopping.
“Auto-compaction : When your conversation approaches 95% of the token limit, Copilot automatically compresses your history in the background without interrupting your workflow. This enables virtually infinite sessions.”
Agree the scope before any code is written: plan mode asks clarifying questions and produces a plan first.
“In plan mode, Copilot analyzes your request, asks clarifying questions to understand scope and requirements, and builds a plan before writing any code.”
Your employer can switch the tool off: when Copilot comes from an organization, an administrator must enable the Copilot CLI policy first.
“GitHub Copilot CLI is available with all Copilot plans. If you receive Copilot from an organization, the Copilot CLI policy must be enabled in the organization's settings.”
You cannot bring an arbitrary model: one that lacks tool calling or streaming makes the CLI return an error, and GitHub asks for a 128k context window.
“Models used with Copilot CLI must support tool calling (function calling) and streaming . If the model does not support these capabilities, Copilot CLI will return an error. For best results, the model should have a context window of at least 128k tokens.”
Model access fails in the field: a 403 on listing models is open with 30 comments, and sporadic policy blocking on model retrieval is open with 29.
“Failed to list models: 403 : unauthorized: not authorized to use this Copilot feature”
A developer with no GitHub Copilot subscription who wants an agent on day one should pick OpenCode or Crush; Copilot CLI needs an active Copilot plan.
“- An **active Copilot subscription**. See [Copilot plans](https://github.com/features/copilot/plans?ref_cta=Copilot+plans+signup&ref_loc=install-copilot-cli&ref_page=docs).”
What GitHub Copilot CLI costs
Copilot CLI is on the $0 Free plan; paid plans are Pro at $10 per user per month, Pro+ at $39 and Max at $100.
“Pro · For everyday coding with agents in GitHub Copilot. · $ 10 USD per user / month”
The Max plan is built for sustained agent work and carries $100 a month of GitHub AI Credits.
“GitHub Copilot Max is built for heavy Copilot usage, including sustained agent-driven workflows, and includes $100/month in GitHub AI Credits.”
Questions people ask
- Are Claude Code and GitHub Copilot CLI still maintained?
- Claude Code committed to anthropics/claude-code (main) on 8 Oct 2026. GitHub Copilot CLI committed to github/copilot-cli (main) on 7 Oct 2026. Both readings come from the default branch of each repository, on the date shown beside them.
- What do Claude Code and GitHub Copilot CLI cost?
- Claude Code: Claude Pro costs $17 per month on the annual plan, $200 billed up front, or $20 per month billed monthly; Max starts at $100 per month. Pro and Max subscribers do not pay per token for Claude Code; the usage sits inside the subscription. GitHub Copilot CLI: Copilot CLI is on the $0 Free plan; paid plans are Pro at $10 per user per month, Pro+ at $39 and Max at $100. The Max plan is built for sustained agent work and carries $100 a month of GitHub AI Credits. Every figure here is quoted from the vendor's own page and linked beside the claim.
- Is Claude Code or GitHub Copilot CLI open source?
- We have not read a licence for Claude Code. GitHub Copilot CLI's repository github/copilot-cli reports the Other licence. We read the licence GitHub reports for the repository, which is not the same question as whether the hosted product is free.
How we check this page
- Machine facts. Stars, contributors, the newest commit on the default branch, the licence GitHub reports and the latest stable release come from the GitHub API, and download counts from npm, PyPI, Homebrew and the VS Code Marketplace. Each value carries the day it was last confirmed, never the day this page was built. The line under each label is arithmetic on those two values.
- Judgments. Every claim about what a tool suits, what it is bad at and what it costs is quoted from a page we read, and that page is linked beside the claim. Where there is no link, we wrote no claim.
- Index status. Both Claude Code and GitHub Copilot CLI carry claims we read, quoted and linked. So this page is offered to search engines.
Related comparisons
Pairs we can answer for come first.
