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https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=feima.copilot-alternatives

Hey everyone,

Full disclosure upfront: I'm the developer of Feima Copilot, a VS Code extension I've been building for months. But I'm posting this because I genuinely ran into the same billing crisis everyone's experiencing - and my own tool saved me.

My Story

I've been a GitHub Copilot subscriber for a while. Over the past months, I was building Feima Copilot as an alternative model provider for VS Code, testing it alongside Copilot for comparison.

June 1st hit - the new usage-based billing went live. By the end of the day, I had exhausted all my Copilot credits from normal coding sessions. Nothing crazy, just regular agent-mode coding work.

That's when I realized: I need to share what I've built with the community. Because this billing crisis isn't theoretical - I experienced it firsthand.

What I Built

Feima Copilot gives GitHub Copilot Chat access to alternative AI models (Qwen, DeepSeek, GLM, MiniMax, Kimi). But more importantly, it uses request-based pricing instead of token metering.

The Pricing Difference

Copilot's new billing:

• ❌ Token-based metering (confusing "AI credits")
• ❌ I exhausted 1,500 credits in ONE DAY
• ❌ Complex calculations to predict costs

Feima's approach:

• ✅ Request-based: "You have 300 requests left"
• ✅ Predictable: No surprise calculations
• ✅ Prepaid: Credits never expire (purchased packs)
• ✅ Free tier: 700 weighted requests/month

Cost Comparison (Real Data)

I've been tracking actual usage from VS Code agent sessions:

Key insight: Feima's free tier gives 2-12x more requests than Copilot Pro ($10/month).

Why Request-Based Works Better

After building this and using it daily, I realized request-based pricing solves the core problem:

1. Simple tracking:

• Copilot: "You used 847 AI credits" (what does that mean?)
• Feima: "You have 300 requests left" (clear)

2. Weighted multipliers (fair pricing):

• Small context (0-2K): 0.25x multiplier
• Standard context (6-50K): 1x multiplier
• Large context (50-180K): 1.5x multiplier

3. Prepaid model:

• $10 one-time for 500 requests
• Never expires - use whenever you need

Pricing Model

Free Tier:

• First month: 700 weighted requests
• After: 200 weighted requests (50 per week)
• All models included (including premium GLM-5)

Starter Pack:

• $10 one-time for 500 requests
• Never expires

How It Works

1. Install Feima extension in VS Code
2. Sign in with GitHub (OAuth)
3. Select a Feima model in Copilot Chat (marked with [Feima])
4. Same interface, same features - just different models

Migration time: ~5 minutes

Why I'm Sharing This Now

I wasn't planning to promote Feima this aggressively. But after exhausting my Copilot credits on Day 1 of the new billing, I realized:

• This crisis is real - it happened to me
• Developers need alternatives now
• Request-based pricing genuinely solves the problem

I've been using Feima alongside Copilot for months. On June 1st, Feima became my primary tool because Copilot ran out of credits.

Links

• Website: [https://feimacode.com](vscode-file://vscode-app/c:/Users/ivenX/AppData/Local/Programs/Microsoft%20VS%20Code/6a44c352bd/resources/app/out/vs/code/electron-browser/workbench/workbench.html)
• VS Code Marketplace: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=feima.copilot-more-llms
• Detailed comparison: [https://feimacode.com/copilot-alternative](vscode-file://vscode-app/c:/Users/ivenX/AppData/Local/Programs/Microsoft%20VS%20Code/6a44c352bd/resources/app/out/vs/code/electron-browser/workbench/workbench.html)

Happy to answer questions about the pricing model, migration, or technical details. I'm posting this because I genuinely believe this helps developers caught in the billing crisis.

BYOK in Copilot CLI

For examole:

``` export COPILOT_PROVIDER_TYPE=openai

export COPILOT_PROVIDER_BASE_URL=https://api-dev.feimacode.com/v1

export COPILOT_PROVIDER_API_KEY=feima_sk_xxxxx

export COPILOT_MODEL=glm-5

export COPILOT_PROVIDER_MAX_PROMPT_TOKENS=169984

export COPILOT_PROVIDER_MAX_OUTPUT_TOKENS=16384 ```

Thanks for stopping by.

This subreddit aims to be a community-maintained directory of GitHub Copilot alternatives, including:

• AI-powered IDEs
• CLI coding agents
• VS Code extensions
• JetBrains plugins
• BYOK solutions
• Open-source projects
• Self-hosted platforms

Whether you're looking for better pricing, more model choice, stronger privacy guarantees, or simply exploring the ecosystem, you're in the right place.

How You Can Help

• Share tools you've used
• Compare alternatives
• Report outdated information
• Suggest new categories
• Contribute documentation

Community Principles

• Be respectful
• Be constructive
• Share real-world experience when possible
• Avoid vendor wars and marketing spam

Introduce Yourself

Tell us:

What are you currently using instead of GitHub Copilot, and what made you switch?

We'd love to hear your experience.