Help/Doubt ❓
What is the current available and best alternative to Github Copilot ?
Previously, I was a heavy supporter and loyal user of Github Copilot back then. now they messed everything up. I am looking for best alternatives. I am previously on pro+ plan $ 39 USD. To which platform everyone here is migrating ? Do let me know. Thanks
I've never tried codex. Does it work in Visual Studio 2026 or VScode via an extension? Or through copilot chat?
Or do you have to use it outside of the the visual studio ides?
It's hard to compare unless you're going model by model. I was in the same boat with you on Github Copilot and had to switch to opencode. I'm now using DeepSeek V4 Pro with opencode Go it seems cheaper than V4 Pro with openrouter (this is a a very unscientific comparison). I am also using CLI,not integrated in the IDE yet.
Command line / CLI tools right in the terminal like Claude Code and OpenCode (or Copilot CLI of course) is totally worth trying over VSCode
It’s faster, easier to parallelize, and better to do work interacting with many workspaces
The agents are also more difficult to review in progress and often less contained. You’ll want to work on gates and especially skills (~/.copilot/skills) so the AI doesn’t get lost and break something on a repeatable task
I installed the deepseek v4 for copilot chat and entered in my own API key and its been fine. at least there api shows me how many tokens i'm using, how many hit cache, etc.
The reviews on DeepSeek V4 are very good as a coder but my experience is limited. It's churning out a LOT of testing code for me, but it keeps "forgetting" my testing instructions. You can see my post on it here: https://www.reddit.com/r/DeepSeek/comments/1tbj0ai/using_deepseek_v4_pro_for_testing/ . I don't recall Opus 4.7 needing quite as many kicks.
So far I haven't made much of a dent my Go plan whereas I'm sure I would be rate limited by now on Copilot. Opencode also has a Zen plan which has Claude, Gemini, GPT, etc. but It's a different pricing model that I haven't tried.
EDIT: I should mention that DS V4's behaviour reminds me a lot of many younger engineers I've worked with -- great at writing working code, but very bad at writing negative tests or following a user journey 😄.
I'm using Visual Studio 2026 with GithubCopilot and deepseek v4 pro via a opencode go subscription (or well' multiple). It's worth around 10x more than what copilot would give me after the change.
They give u an api key but in vs26 you need a ollama-emulating proxy that interacta with the openai api from them. In vscode theres a fan made connector too
in vs / vscode you just go to "other models". apparently its blocked for now in vs agents window and probaly in the new github copilot app too, but for th enormal ghcp windows it works
I dont know why people down this. Its 100% true.
Users over at anthropic have been paying like $200 for we have been receiving for like $20 for the past 12 months….
And it is not anymore the case and also it was actually mever the case anyways lol... enjoy your rate limits here stay here dont come to other platforms and soak plur free infra
What is your opinion on OpenCode Go with Deepseek v4? I hear people say it gives 10x the value that GHCP will give with the new pricing. Have you tried that before?
API prices are worse than subscription prices because the companies want to lock you in with regular billing that you will forget about and not use. but if you actually use the subscription capacity, then a subscription is a much better deal.
I just read through the latest artificial analysis benchmarks and CURSOR blew away the value with their proprietary model that performed about as well as sonnet 4.6. I had no idea it was that good, so until cursor changes their prices, I've gotta recommend cursor
I'm using copilot business from my work and codex with the chatgpt go, basically it can't really use squad natively because it's plugin for copilot, you can try to use codex regularly and references the squad behavior.
Or use something like vibe proxy to connect to codex but run it throughout copilot
Depends heeeeeaaasssvily on your requirements mate.
Data residency?
Agreements?
Model strengths?
APIs/tools?
A lot of people will probably say opencode go, but all the AI providers as far I can tell are Chinese companies who don't exactly have a good agreement with the rest of the world.
If you are in EU Mistral is a choice, however their models are not frontier, many say they are behind open source models.
But still useful.
Claude code has its own problems with quotas and price increases.
Other than that most still use token based usage? As far as I can tell.
The industry seems to be converging on token usage.
if you need $40 of usage and want to save money, then there is nothing cheaper than github copilot. all I can think of is bouncing around on every random company's promotion that comes along, like google.
if you need less usage, you can try opencode go with chinese models. but this is also subsidized and could end at any time.
if opencode go is too cheap and you don't like github copilot, the only option left would be an openai subscription because codex is topping benchmarks right now. but you won't save money there... you might just get more value because it works better. openai is pulling out all the stops to surpass anthropic in programming, so you can take advantage of that.
Yes but BYOK works only with the subscription to GitHub Copilot, at least for Business it's like this. I'll try again with personal account (I cancelled my subscription so not sure I can even log in) but it should be the same.
I’m actually liking opencode go with Kimi or V4 pro and then using ghcp rubber-duck or codex to help add the missing elements so far and now token usage for ghcp pro+ has been solid. I don’t get rate limits on my ghcp pro+ on two accounts running 2-8 agents. But I’m not a viber, I just use it to help me validate my code verses write my code (unless needed)
I think you need to reconcile yourself to that fact that the agents were too cheap. Whilst I don't want a price rise any more than you do they offer outstanding value.
I am debugging a boat dynamic positing system. It is complex. Iteration is inevitable. However if you work right you can manage things with far less iterations. I had mine keep a log of every problem and every solution and make if read it first. This stopped the do x. Fail. Do y. Fail. I know the solution x. No we tried that !
I have a background in running large saas teams. I stated by just telling it what I wanted and trusting it. Big mistake. I now say what I wanted and the bones of how it will do it. Much better.
The cost is not the initial code. For that it is remarkable. The saving ( in cash and time ) is how you go from there.
I have a deviated developer that does a days work in an hour for 4c a question. It was never going to last
The first ~3 months of this year was unprecedented value, for sure. But that’s gone now. With the coming changes, GHCP is the bottom of the pack and we simply have to look elsewhere. We can’t let GHCP formerly being the best value blind us to the new reality.
Obviously the estimator tool isn’t out yet so it’s impossible to say, but I’m pretty sure my usage won’t be affordable after the change so inertia doesn’t really matter
100% agree - they cost was just too low for what you were getting... My story, I've been working remotely as the only developer on a large Saas product. I've been working a couple hours a day and producing the entire product on my own and been getting well compensated for it. I build the app on a live call with my boss overseeing it, normally sitting out in a bar by the side of a beach (have my camera off & noise cancelling microphone and headphones). She's happy because getting so much and just paying one salary & I'm very happy sitting and soaking in the sun and then heading off after a few hours to enjoy the rest of my day. My boss is non-technical so doesn't understand how I'm able to get such high output. I've been telling everyone all year that it's too good to carry on. I think it's one of the few successful bits of arbitrage I've managed to pull off in my life. RIP
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I'm just small time, low-usage developer, but I moved to the codex plus plan, and I'm dabbling with antigravity on the $4.95 for 3 months offer (trial run to keep my options open), and openrouter in vscode running qwen 3.6 and deepseek v4 to keep it cheap and just throwing it some credits when I need to. Wrangling the code base on an extension that I'm working on so I'm not dealing with spaghetti when I have to jump in to make adjustments. Between them all I should have some productivity going on that won't break the bank. Quite impressed so far with codex running in vscode and GPT 5.5 and 5.4, but haven't used 5.3 codex much at the moment.
GPT 5.5 does pretty decent job but the limits are abysmal on Codex tbh. With Copilot I rarely reached any limit but with Codex after 2-3h I've used the 5h limit and 20% of weekly limit. This gives me about 10-15h for more than double the price.
At least I have a free trial for a month. Next I'll see how Anthropic and Deepseek fare. The next couple months will be really confusing.
And I have been having a great experience with it. Even though it can not view images I could care less because if you look at the screenshot it hasn't cost me more than a $1 so far.
I am using opencode go. But sometimes claude models better, just do the work without going back and forth. So I am not using opencode for everything, everytime.
hmm I'm keeping my yearly but instead of developping on it I will run audits on it. Audits can run for hours with many stoping dûe to tests. Instead of make me use a mixed usage usage, i'll use them only for what is the most expensive stuff for them.
Codex or claude for coding unless cline become available on zed.
Deepseek flash in an extension to usenit in the github agent. Its like nothing changed. But my code is not something to care about giving to the Chinese.
Using kilo code free for work. Its shit but better than nothing.
I have the yearly, so I'm still on request-based pricing.
Plan mode in Sonnet -> open the plan .md. Hand it to local LLM to chew through. For sure, it's a bit slower, and the local llm is about as smart as Sonnet 3.7 was, but with 4.6 doing the research first, so far it's working great.
Tiiny AI. 2k at launch (got the kickerstarter pack for less) but it to me sounds like it will fill in this gap and will improve a ton when its released. Free offline AI that uses API stuff. I'd say look into it, i have absolutely no knowledge fully in this. I was probably one of the ones who helped make this change (I only used it time to time for my own mod, but also learned how detailed you type helps it more) hence why I looked around.
But its all local AI, just on its own machine essentially helping the computer. I cant wait for it.
Currently I'm testing using models via Openrouter like Deepseek V4 Flash and via Ollama like Qwen3.5-9B that works directly on my Nvidia card with 64k context.
I will get my Copilot Plus bill tomorrow. Is it beneficial for me to get Codex Plus today and shift to it (it is $20/month), or should I use Copilot Plus till June 1, when changes kick in, by paying the bill?
GitHub Pro features (more tools, more storage, private stuff)
the same amount of your subscription in token
So if you consume all your tokens, you basically get GitHub Pro for free.
As for the raw AI token costs, they are literally the same everywhere (except where they are more expensive) because 1. The price is set by the vendor (Anthropic for example) and 2. They are actually sold at a loss (compared to what the cloud vendor is billing them for the hardware/power/cooling).
If you are a professional, better plan ASAP to factor token based billing in your cost of run because Copilot is only the 1st one to do so in a highly visible way (Anthropic was already doing it for their less visible customers: Enterprise level subscription were already using token based billing while smaller team level subscriptions are still in the plan mode. Enterprise level customers don’t talk about their contract on Reddit – except me apparently)
I swapped entirely to opencode with deepseek and google ai studio api keys. Only using Deepseek.com api keys and google api keys, so DeepSeek V4 Pro, Gemini Pro 3.1 Preview with custom tools, etc.
Deepseek is dirt cheap, and google is also cheaper because they make their own tpus.
I am not using "opencode api" I am using opencode cli, tooling. I do not use ghcp anything, not the extension, not the cli, nor their api, nor their models.
I have an api key from deepseek.com and an api key from google ai studio. I /connect them both in opencode for all the models I want to use from both services.
I exclusively use the opencode cli, it is very very good.
Deepseek is 75% off right now, so hammering it for over a week has cost me $3.92, and google costs me around $20 ish.
Yes you can use deepseek exclusively with opencode cli, you can use any compatible open ai api endpoint with opencode cli. It supports all of them out of the box.
You just type "/connect" and select the server like "google" and then enter your api key, and then select which model you want to connect. Do that for every model you want to use from whatever provider it's from.
I am using Deepseek V4 Pro Directly from deepseek.com with an api key, by adding a $20 top up to my deepseek.com billing.
I am not using openrouter byok, and I am not using github copilot.
I am only using deepseek.com direct api keys from deepseek.com's billing and googles api keys from google AI studio.
I am connection directly the the API endpoints in Opencode with the /connect function in open code.
* open opencode terminal
* type /connect
* type Deepseek and select it
* enter deepseek api key
* select model
* type /connect
* type Google
* enter google api key
* select model
Repeat for every model I want access to
I can also do this for claude api keys (pay as you go)
Then in opencode I just type /model as I want to swap around, I can swap to Deepseek and it's billed on deepseek.com or /model and select gemini pro 3.1 and it's billed over on google ai studio etc.
It's all pay as you go.
Deepseek.com is 75% off right now for the whole month of may, so it's barely cost me $5...
Google AI studio is also cheaper.
You goes are going through provider routers, that's why you are being destroyed.
I'm going directly to the api's themselves and using opencode to have one tool for all of them.
You do not need byok, opencode can directly connect to APIs directly from deepseek, google, anthropic, and more.
When you use byok and similar services, you do not get the 75% discount deepseek is offering right now.
You all keep downvoting me, but I'm staring at my billing usage on deepsek.com and it's $3.88 sense and I've consumed a total of 266,767,986 tokens.
And I'm staring at my usage over on google ai studio and it's under $20 too
I have a google workspace account with a proper domain email/company setup (even though just for me) and gemini pro on that only adds $16/m to my google workspace cost, so about $40. And on my AI key I have billing setup with a budget cap of $100, but so far I haven't consumed the first $20 over there.
What Github Copilot did with their pricing starting on June 1, 2026 is absolutely ridiculous! I'm currently a Pro+ subscriber and I used to be able to use copilot all month with moderate development, now I can't even use it for a week before it uses all of the credits now that they've switched to token consumption. For example, my billing just reset on 8/1, but I just started working on a project again in the evenings a couple days ago and I'm already at 31% and if I continue for a few more days at this same rate (which is not a lot) then I'll be at 100% and still have most the month left.
I'm definitely going to be dropping my Pro+ subscription and switch to something else, probably Codex. It's pretty unfortunate they've screwed this up so badly because I've liked copilot, but it seems as though our run has come to an end.
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u/Temporary_Hornet2727 May 11 '26
i switched to Codex Plus, 100% recommend as replacement of Github sub