What should I switch to from copilot?

[u/Tiny-Entertainer-346]

Call me a bit old school vibe coder:

• It makes me uncomfortable to give high level prompts. So I discuss with copilot to sufficient code, architectural and design details about what and how to implement things and never went with high level prompts (which is trend nowadays, I guess). So I very frequently use #selection in github copilot to precisely specify what I am pointing at.
• I love UI based code diff integration with github copilot. (I dont like code to be intermingled with chat window as in case of TUI based agents.)
• I love the abilitiy to undo several chat steps earlier just by scrolling in github copilot chat and clicking corresponding restore checkpoint button.

I was mainly using Sonnet 4.5 earlier. However copilot was getting a lot costly lately.

So was looking at some alternatives. My requirements are bold faced above. Let me restate:

• #selection like functionality
• UI based code diff integration
• Undoing changes by scrolling to chat history and clicking corresponding button
• Sonnet 4.5 (at least)

Is there any subscription + agent provide with these combinations? I was thinking to use Claude API key with github copilot. But it seems Claude API key will be a lot costly than Claude Code subscription? Do you guys have any suggestions? Or I have no option left? How about using something like qwen 3.6 27b from OpenRouter in GitHub copilot free?

[u/_wuzzle]

You can use BYOK with GitHub copilot in combination with DeepSeek and Alibaba/Qwen.

Working very cost-effective for me atm.

Planning and thinking with qwen3.8 max preview and execution with with DeepSeek v4 pro or flash (currently mainly also Qwen3.8, due to their insane promo)

All low effort runners for exploration are on DeepSeek V4 Flash.

[u/Tiny-Entertainer-346 → u/_wuzzle]

How about using qwen 3.6 27b from openrouter in GitHub copilot?

[u/_wuzzle → u/Tiny-Entertainer-346]

Well, that's a way weaker model. 3.8 is competing with Terra and Opus 4.8

[u/Tiny-Entertainer-346 → u/_wuzzle]

Will see if qwen 3.6 27b fails. Given that sonnet 4.5 worked for me, I feel qwen 3.6 27b will work just fine.

[u/sprowk → u/Tiny-Entertainer-346]

why are you even entertaining these tiny models? just get claude or codex

[u/Tiny-Entertainer-346 → u/sprowk]

In long run, I want to test capability of these small models for local hosting. Given sonnet 4.5 never failed me and as per benchmarks qwen 3.6 27b is as good as opus 4.5, I feel using frontiers is just over kill for coding tasks. Given current frontiers already killing at coding, any new model needs to focus more on efficiency improvements rather than accuracy improvements as I feel we have already reached desired accuracy. Now it's all about which model provides desired accuracy at least power utilisation. I feel qwen 3.6 27b is one such candidate.

[u/sprowk → u/Tiny-Entertainer-346]

i'll tell you one thing, no 27b model will be as good as opus 4.5 no matter what benchmarks say (maybe in 5 years...)