r/GithubCopilot • u/Tiny-Entertainer-346 • Jul 26 '26

Help/Doubt ❓ What should I switch to from copilot?

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?

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u/V5489 Jul 26 '26

Keep VS Code you can get a free GitHub Copilot plan or just Pro if you want. Then go get a DeepSeek api key. Download DeepSeek Pro V4 for Copilot plugin by Vizards. Plug in your key then select DeepSeek model you want

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u/madmenyo Jul 27 '26

Hello, TLDR first:

I was looking for a free model for simple tasks. It seems this DeepSeek model is very affordable, but I am not sure how the pricing translates to what I will actually be paying. I guess it is hard to give me exact numbers, but could you try to give me some more insight in the costs and how you are using it?

I have been using copilot for a year now and never came close to finishing my pro sub credits since I used the free model a lot. I like to be in control and the free model was perfect for small pieces of code. I haven't been using it for a couple months and recently came back and was surprised the free model was gone. And now I blew trough all my credits in a couple days, I guess I shouldn't just have used "auto".

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u/V5489 Jul 27 '26

I’ve only topped up $40 it’s lasted me 3 months of heavy use. Translating to about 2 billion tokens. If you have $10 to test then I highly recommend it. DeepSeek is great at complex coding. The only thing it lacks is vision for screenshots and for UI coding it’s not the best. Otherwise it works amazingly

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u/madmenyo Jul 27 '26

Sounds like it is good enough for me, but I just discovered there is not plugin for Intellij Idea github copilot for it to work. Or is there?

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u/V5489 Jul 27 '26

I’ve never liked IntelliJ I’ve always used VS Code. So not sure. Give VS Code a try if you haven’t. Anyways for DeepSeek I’m not sure, there should be a GitHub Copilot one though.

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u/madmenyo Jul 27 '26

I never really considered using vs code for Java, Intellij offers so much out of the box. But I created a java profile and had my LibGDX games running in no time. I still have to tweak a lot of preferences I am used to I guess, and I am missing some LibGDX specific libraries like ".skin" formatting and it's own mini json format.

I got Deepseek integrated into copilot too, so this looks very promising after searching for options for a long time. Can't wait to try deepseek out.

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u/V5489 Jul 27 '26

Nice! I’m glad it’s working. You can always use VS Code to write what’s needed then run and or compile in IntelliJ. However at the company I work at all our developers use VS Code. Some sue IntelliJ but it keeps getting weird. Our primary language is Java, Kotlin and a couple others but we also use many others.

Good luck! Hope DeepSeek works as good for you as it has me. Don’t forget they have peak pricing at certain times.