GitHub has become the developers’ favorite place, where you have version control, project management, and collaboration all over one screen. But its AI-assisted coding assistant, GitHub Copilot, also has its downsides, including high pricing, slow API performance, and can not be used by everyone.
Many developers are looking for alternatives. Here, we discuss the 6 best GitHub Copilot alternatives for AI-assisted coding tools that speed up and improve workflow.
What is GitHub Copilot?
GitHub and OpenAI have created GitHub Copilot, an AI coding assistant that provides real-time suggestions, code completions, and even full functions as you type. It is a powerful tool for developers, but it does not come without its limitations.
How does GitHub Copilot work?
GitHub Copilot uses machine learning to analyze all the public code and predict what you might write next. You can integrate this tool into popular editors like Visual Studio Code, and it will suggest ideas for various programming languages.
Copilot is a huge productivity booster for developers, who can write code much faster with it, but it’s not the only tool out there.
6 Best GitHub Copilot Alternates
There are plenty of GitHub Copilot alternatives that suit picky purposes. That’s why we dug deeper for 10 alternatives that provide great features and functionality, flexible usage, and the ability to enhance your Strategy Maps.
Amazon CodeWhisperer
Best For: Developers working in AWS environments looking for AI-powered code suggestions.
Amazon CodeWhisperer provides real-time code recommendations and security scans for vulnerabilities. This makes it especially handy for people who are already heavily invested in the AWS ecosystem, giving them smooth AWS service workflows with S3 and DynamoDB included.
Features
- Real-time code recommendations.
- Security vulnerability scans.
- AWS service integration.
Pricing
- Free for individual developers.
- Enterprise pricing based on usage.
Pros: Integrates with AWS and offers security features.
Cons: Limited outside AWS environments.
GitLens Pro
Best For: People who require advanced Git integration with Visual Studio Code and detailed code insights.
GitLens Pro is an extension that adds advanced repository visualizations and VCS functionality, such as GitHub and GitLab pull requests, VSCode work tree support (Multiple Branches), and more. It is for teams working with Git and dealing with complex workflows.
Features
- See commit history and branches.
- Unified view for GitHub and GitLab pull requests.
- Multiple branches in Worktree support.
Pricing
- Free community version
- Pro at $5/month.
Pros: Excellent Git workflow visualization.
Cons: Advanced features require a subscription.
Windsurf Editor
Best For: Real-time AI suggestions and context-aware completions with Collaborative coding.
Windsurf Editor, from the people behind Codeium, is a powerful IDE aimed at team workflows. With over 40 IDE integrations, it is an excellent fit for developers working on dynamic, collaborative projects.
Features
- Context-aware autocompletion.
- Advanced coding predictions, supercomplete.
- Collaborative chat for team workflows.
Pricing
- Free for individuals.
- Enterprise pricing available.
Pros: Support for advanced predictive coding tools, Wide IDE support.
Cons: New tool with limited user base.
Tabnine
Best For: Those looking for secure, AI-driven code completion across multiple IDEs.
Tabnine is an AI code assistant that helps developers write code faster while keeping it fully private. It is the best choice for individual developers and enterprises, supporting 20+ programming languages and working with a large number of IDEs.
Features
- Personalized suggestions.
- Full privacy and zero data retention.
- Deployment on-premises and in the cloud as SaaS.
Pricing
- Free basic features.
- Custom pricing for teams.
Pros: Privacy-focused and supports 20+ languages.
Cons: Advanced features require a subscription.
Sourcegraph Cody
Best For: AI coding toolset that scales to enterprise with deep codebase integration.
Sourcegraph’s Cody combines the power of advanced models like GPT-4 with AI-driven coding assistance. It’s meant for large enterprises and offers code completions and collaboration tools embedded in GitHub and GitLab.
Features
- Integrate with GitHub, GitLab, and other tools.
- Customizable inline edits and refactoring.
- Access to use LLMs such as Claude and GPT-4.
Pricing
- $9 monthly for one individual
- $19 per user monthly for enterprises.
Pros: Great for large repositories.
Cons: Subscription-based.
Blackbox.ai
Best For: Code suggestions and auto-generation from comments and descriptions in real-time.
Using our team’s internal Blackbox.ai private label, we have an AI-powered development experience with real-time search, code editing, and GitHub integration. It is meant to empower teams and solo developers with productivity.
Features
- Real-time AI chat with web search capabilities.
- Get GitHub integration for collaboration.
- Full stack development autonomous coding agents.
Pricing
- Free basic plans.
- Premium plans are available.
Pros: Managing large code files and self-coding agents.
Cons: Some features are limited to premium plans.
Conclusion
GitHub certainly has not lost popularity among developers, but other options have eventually supplanted it. The above-mentioned tools provide additional functionalities, flexibility, and support for individual programming requirements. If we explore these options, we can increase our coding productivity, increase security, and find the best solution overall.
