GitHub Copilot CLI and Qwen Code, fact by fact
| Fact | GitHub Copilot CLI | Qwen Code |
|---|---|---|
| StarsQwen Code has 17,117 more stars (2.5×). | 11,244Verified 8 Oct 2026 | 28,361Verified 8 Oct 2026 |
| Newest commitBoth committed on the same day. | 7 Oct 20260 days old when we read itVerified 8 Oct 2026 | 8 Oct 20260 days old when we read itVerified 8 Oct 2026 |
| ContributorsQwen Code has 394 more contributors (16×). | 26Verified 8 Oct 2026 | 420Verified 8 Oct 2026 |
| LicenseOther against Apache-2.0. | OtherVerified 8 Oct 2026 | Apache-2.0Verified 8 Oct 2026 |
| Latest stable releaseBoth released on the same day. | v1.0.93published 7 Oct 2026Verified 8 Oct 2026 | sdk-typescript-v0.1.18published 5 Oct 2026Verified 8 Oct 2026 |
| npm downloadsGitHub Copilot CLI has 1,618,847 more npm downloads a week (16×). | 1,723,666 a week@github/copilotVerified 8 Oct 2026 | 104,819 a week@qwen-code/qwen-codeVerified 8 Oct 2026 |
| Homebrew installs | not tracked for GitHub Copilot CLI | 2,783 in 30 daysqwen-codeVerified 8 Oct 2026 |
| Repository | github/copilot-cliShellVerified 8 Oct 2026 | QwenLM/qwen-codeTypeScriptVerified 8 Oct 2026 |
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.”
What we know about Qwen Code
Qwen Code binds the local agent to Telegram, DingTalk, WeChat or Feishu with one command, `qwen channel`, and ships TypeScript, Python and Java SDKs beside the CLI.
“- **Beyond the terminal** — IDE plugins, Desktop app, daemon mode, SDKs, and IM bots (Telegram / DingTalk / WeChat / Feishu).”
Run the agent from a group chat your team already uses, with `qwen channel`.
“| **IM Bot** | `qwen channel` | Connect to Telegram, DingTalk, WeChat, or Feishu |”
Embed the agent in your own program through the TypeScript, Python or Java SDK instead of shelling out to a CLI.
“| **SDK** | — | [TypeScript](./packages/sdk-typescript/README.md), [Python](./packages/sdk-python/README.md), [Java](./packages/sdk-java/qwencode/README.md) |”
Batch a repository-wide edit in CI with `qwen -p "..."`, which runs without the terminal UI.
“| **Headless** | `qwen -p "..."` | Scripts, CI/CD, batch processing — no UI |”
Qwen Code is no longer free: the Qwen OAuth free tier was discontinued on 2026-04-15, and requests on an old token are now rejected.
“The Qwen OAuth free tier was discontinued on 2026-04-15. Existing cached tokens may continue working briefly, but new requests will be rejected.”
You cannot finish sign-in on a server: OAuth needs a browser, which CI, SSH and container sessions do not have.
“In non-interactive or headless environments (e.g., CI, SSH, containers), you typically cannot complete the OAuth browser login flow.”
Image input regressed in the shipping line: a crash on image load since 0.21.2 is open, and the current release is v0.21.14.
“[Regression] Qwen code crashes on image load since 0.21.2”
A developer who chose Qwen Code because it was free should now price the Alibaba ModelStudio Coding Plan, or move to goose, which runs a local Ollama model at no per-token cost.
“Cost & quota : the free tier has been discontinued as of 2026-04-15.”
What Qwen Code costs
The free tier is gone as of 2026-04-15; the vendor's recommended replacement is the Alibaba ModelStudio Coding Plan, whose weekly quota is priced on Alibaba's own page, which I did not read today.
“Alibaba ModelStudio : official recommended setup. Opens a sub-menu with Coding Plan (for individual developers · weekly quota included), Token Plan (for teams and companies · usage-based billing with a dedicated endpoint), or Standard API Key (connect with an existing ModelStudio API key).”
Questions people ask
- Are GitHub Copilot CLI and Qwen Code still maintained?
- GitHub Copilot CLI committed to github/copilot-cli (main) on 7 Oct 2026. Qwen Code committed to QwenLM/qwen-code (main) on 8 Oct 2026. Both readings come from the default branch of each repository, on the date shown beside them.
- What do GitHub Copilot CLI and Qwen Code cost?
- 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. Qwen Code: The free tier is gone as of 2026-04-15; the vendor's recommended replacement is the Alibaba ModelStudio Coding Plan, whose weekly quota is priced on Alibaba's own page, which I did not read today. Every figure here is quoted from the vendor's own page and linked beside the claim.
- Is GitHub Copilot CLI or Qwen Code open source?
- GitHub Copilot CLI's repository github/copilot-cli reports the Other licence. Qwen Code's repository QwenLM/qwen-code reports the Apache-2.0 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 GitHub Copilot CLI and Qwen Code carry claims we read, quoted and linked. So this page is offered to search engines.
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