GitHub Copilot changed how it bills on June 1, 2026. Premium requests are gone. You now spend AI credits at 1 credit = $0.01, consumed on token usage at each model's per-million rate. Copilot Pro is $10/mo for $15 of credits; Pro+ is $39/mo for $70; the new Max plan is $100/mo for $200. Code completions stay unlimited and never touch credits.
Claude Code bills differently. There are no per-token credits. It bundles into a Claude Pro subscription ($17/mo billed annually or $20/mo monthly), and you spend against a 5-hour rolling session window plus a weekly cap. The same subscription works across claude.ai, Claude Desktop, and Claude Code.
So the comparison is not feature-for-feature. It is a credit meter versus a time meter. Below are the exact rates, caps, install commands, and benchmark scores for both, so you can compute your own monthly cost before you commit. For the capability-first breakdown, see Claude Code vs GitHub Copilot: terminal agent vs multi-model platform.
Quick Verdict
Decision Matrix (June 2026)
- Pick GitHub Copilot if: you want one tool that runs Claude, GPT, and Gemini, unlimited code completions at $10/mo, and you bill by token usage in AI credits.
- Pick Claude Code if: you want the highest-scoring single agent (Claude Opus 4.8, 78.9% Terminal-Bench 2.1), flat time-based limits instead of a per-token meter, and a terminal-first workflow.
- Run both if: Copilot covers inline completions and multi-model agent runs, Claude Code handles deep multi-file work where Opus output fidelity matters.
Copilot's June 2026 Billing Change, Explained
On June 1, 2026, GitHub switched Copilot to usage-based billing with GitHub AI Credits. The old premium request units (PRUs) are retired. One AI credit equals $0.01 USD, and credits are consumed on token usage (input, cached, and output) at each model's published per-million rate.
- Pro ($10/mo): 1,000 base + 500 flex = 1,500 credits, a $15 value.
- Pro+ ($39/mo): 3,900 base + 3,100 flex = 7,000 credits, a $70 value, with premium models including Opus.
- Max ($100/mo, new): 10,000 base + 10,000 flex = 20,000 credits, a $200 value, with priority access to new models.
- Free ($0): 2,000 code completions per month plus a small AI-credits allowance and limited chat/agent usage.
Overage runs through a spending budget at $0.01 per credit. The important detail for cost planning: code completions and next edit suggestions are not billed in AI credits and stay unlimited on every paid plan. Credits are consumed by Copilot Chat, Copilot CLI, cloud coding agents, Copilot Spaces, Spark, and third-party agents.
Sign-ups paused
As of June 2026, new sign-ups are paused for Copilot Student, Pro, Pro+, and Max while GitHub rolls out the new billing. GitHub says they reopen in the coming weeks. Existing subscribers keep access. Claude Code has no such pause.
Pro and Pro+ annual subscribers who stayed on legacy request-based billing after June 1 keep the old model: Pro is 300 premium requests/mo, Pro+ is 1,500/mo, extra requests are $0.04 each, and a Copilot code review costs 13 premium requests under legacy multipliers.
Pricing Side by Side
| Plan | Price | What You Get | Metering |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copilot Free | $0 | 2,000 completions/mo + small credit allowance | Credits + completions |
| Copilot Pro | $10/mo | $15 credits + unlimited completions | AI credits ($0.01 each) |
| Copilot Pro+ | $39/mo | $70 credits, premium models incl. Opus | AI credits ($0.01 each) |
| Copilot Max | $100/mo | $200 credits, priority new models | AI credits ($0.01 each) |
| Claude Code (Pro) | $17/mo annual or $20/mo | Includes Claude Code | 5-hour window + weekly cap |
| Claude Code (Max) | From $100/mo | 5x to 20x Pro usage, Opus access | 5-hour window + weekly cap |
Claude Pro is $17/mo billed annually ($200 up front) or $20/mo billed monthly, and it "Includes Claude Code." The free Claude.ai plan does not include Claude Code. Max starts "From $100 per month." Claude Code also runs through Amazon Bedrock, Google Vertex AI, or Microsoft Foundry on the API.
Entry-Tier Monthly Price
Lower is the cheaper door in. Copilot Pro completions are unlimited; Claude Code Pro caps by time.
Copilot meters token usage in credits beyond the included value; Claude Code meters active processing time.
Usage Limits and Rate Caps
This is where the two tools diverge most. Copilot caps you in dollars of credits. Claude Code caps you in hours of model processing.
Claude Code: time-based windows
Claude Code runs on a 5-hour rolling session window that starts at your first message, plus a weekly limit covering all models over 7 days. Usage is shared across claude.ai, Claude Desktop, and Claude Code on one subscription, with progress bars under Settings, then Usage. Reported weekly guidance (Anthropic-published ranges):
- Pro: roughly 40 to 80 hours of Sonnet per week.
- Max 5x ($100/mo): roughly 140 to 280 Sonnet hours per week.
- Max 20x ($200/mo): roughly 240 to 480 Sonnet hours, or up to about 40 Opus hours.
"Active hours" means time models are processing, not wall-clock time at your desk.
Copilot: credit-based consumption
Copilot credits are spent only by chat, CLI, cloud agents, Spaces, Spark, and third-party agents. Basic code completions never consume credits. A $10/mo Pro plan gives 1,500 credits ($15) per month; once exhausted, you pay overage at $0.01 per credit through a spending budget you control.
| Limit Type | GitHub Copilot | Claude Code |
|---|---|---|
| Meter | AI credits (token usage) | Active processing time |
| Window | Monthly credit allowance | 5-hour rolling + weekly cap |
| Completions | Unlimited, not billed | N/A (no inline completions) |
| Overage | $0.01/credit via spending budget | Wait for window reset, or upgrade tier |
| Shared across surfaces | All Copilot surfaces draw one budget | claude.ai + Desktop + Claude Code share one cap |
Per-Model Credit Rates in Copilot
Because Copilot bills on tokens, your real monthly cost depends on which model you run. These are the published per-1M-token rates that convert into credits (1 credit = $0.01):
| Model | Input / 1M | Output / 1M |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Opus 4.5 / 4.6 / 4.7 / 4.8 | $5 | $25 |
| Claude Sonnet 4 / 4.5 / 4.6 | $3 | $15 |
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | $1 | $5 |
| Claude Fable 5 (currently suspended, see note) | $10 | $50 |
| GPT-5.5 (up to 272K context) | $5 | $30 |
| GPT-5.4 | $2.50 | $15 |
| GPT-5.3-Codex | $1.75 | $14 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | $1.50 | $9 |
| Gemini 3.1 Pro | $2 | $12 |
Running Claude Opus 4.8 inside Copilot draws credits at $5/M input and $25/M output. The same Opus 4.8 in Claude Code draws against time, not tokens. If your work is bursty and short, Copilot's credit model can be cheaper. If you run long autonomous sessions on Opus daily, Claude Code's time-capped Max plan is usually the predictable choice.
Benchmarks: SWE-bench and Terminal-Bench
Copilot is model-agnostic, so it has no single agent score. Its result equals whichever model you select. Claude Code ships Claude models, so its score is fixed per Claude version.
Terminal-Bench 2.1 (agent + model)
Higher is better. Copilot's score equals the model you pick from the rates above.
Source: tbench.ai Terminal-Bench 2.1 leaderboard, June 2026. Copilot runs these same models, so its agent result tracks the model chosen.
On SWE-bench Verified (self-reported, llm-stats leaderboard, June 2026), Claude Opus 4.8 leads frontier models at 88.6%, ahead of Opus 4.7 at 87.6%, Gemini 3.1 Pro at 80.6%, and DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Max at 80.6%. Claude Code runs Opus 4.8 directly; Copilot exposes the same Opus 4.8 plus GPT-5.5 (Terminal-Bench 2.0 = 82.7%) and Gemini 3.5 Flash (Terminal-Bench 2.1 = 76.2%) for you to switch between.
| Metric | Claude Code | GitHub Copilot |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (best) | 78.9% (Opus 4.8) | Model-dependent (runs Opus 4.8, GPT-5.5, Gemini) |
| SWE-bench Verified (Opus 4.8) | 88.6% self-reported | 88.6% if you select Opus 4.8 |
| Code completions | None | Unlimited, not benchmarked |
| Model lock-in | Claude only | Claude, GPT, Gemini, more |
Install Commands and Requirements
Claude Code
Native install (recommended) on macOS, Linux, or WSL:
curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bashWindows PowerShell:
irm https://claude.ai/install.ps1 | iexOther paths: brew install --cask claude-code, winget install Anthropic.ClaudeCode, npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code (Node 18+), and signed apt/dnf/apk repos (for example sudo apt install claude-code after adding the downloads.claude.ai repo). Native installs auto-update in the background; the stable channel runs about a week behind latest. Requirements: macOS 13.0+, Windows 10 1809+, Ubuntu 20.04+/Debian 10+/Alpine 3.19+, 4GB+ RAM. A Desktop app exists for macOS and Windows.
GitHub Copilot CLI
npm install -g @github/copilotRequires Node 22+. Also available via brew install copilot-cli, winget install GitHub.Copilot, or curl -fsSL https://gh.io/copilot-install | bash. Copilot CLI supports MCP servers and the /model slash command for switching models mid-session.
Models, MCP, and Backends
Both tools support the Model Context Protocol. Claude Code adds servers with the CLI:
claude mcp add --transport http notion https://mcp.notion.com/mcpClaude Code supports http, sse (deprecated), and stdio transports, with JSON config via .mcp.json, ~/.claude.json, or claude mcp add-json. It runs Claude models only, but those Claude models are reachable through the Anthropic API, Amazon Bedrock, Google Vertex AI, or Microsoft Foundry.
Copilot is multi-model by design. One subscription runs Claude Opus 4.5 through 4.8, Claude Sonnet and Haiku, Claude Fable 5 (currently suspended, see note), GPT-5.5, GPT-5.4, GPT-5.3-Codex, Gemini 3.5 Flash, and Gemini 3.1 Pro, switchable with /model. Credits are the only thing that crosses model boundaries: pick a cheaper model and the same budget lasts longer.
Cheaper Open-Source Model Inference for Coding Agents
Copilot's credit math and Claude Code's subscription both assume frontier proprietary models. If you want to run open-source models (DeepSeek and similar) under your own agent, where you serve them matters for both quality and price.
Morph serves DeepSeek with 16-bit (bf16) activations, no fp8 or int8 quantization. Most serverless providers quantize activations to fp8 to cut cost, which degrades output quality; keeping full 16-bit activations means responses match the reference weights. That makes Morph the best place to run DeepSeek when output fidelity matters. For coding specifically, Morph runs codegen-tuned speculative decoding (draft and ngram tuned on code) plus custom low-level inference kernels built for code generation, which makes it the fastest and highest-quality option for coding agents rather than a general menu.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| DeepSeek V4 Flash input | $0.139 / 1M tokens |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash output | $0.278 / 1M tokens |
| Activation precision | 16-bit (bf16), no fp8/int8 quantization |
| Codegen path | Code-tuned speculative decoding + custom kernels |
See Morph Open Source Models and full pricing.
Decision Framework
| Your Priority | Best Choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest entry price | GitHub Copilot | $10/mo Pro with $15 credits and unlimited completions |
| Predictable flat cost on heavy daily use | Claude Code | Time-capped Max plan, no per-token meter |
| Highest single-agent benchmark | Claude Code | Opus 4.8: 78.9% Terminal-Bench 2.1, 88.6% SWE-bench Verified |
| Model flexibility | GitHub Copilot | Claude, GPT, Gemini, Fable (currently suspended, see note) in one subscription via /model |
| Inline code completions | GitHub Copilot | Unlimited, never billed in credits; Claude Code has none |
| Terminal-first multi-file work | Claude Code | Reads the repo, plans, delivers reviewable diffs |
| Running open-source models cheaply | Morph Open Source Models | 16-bit DeepSeek at $0.139/$0.278 per 1M, code-tuned serving |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GitHub Copilot cheaper than Claude Code in 2026?
At the entry tier, yes. Copilot Pro is $10/mo with $15 of AI credits plus unlimited code completions that never consume credits. Claude Code needs a Claude Pro plan at $17/mo billed annually ($200 up front) or $20/mo monthly. The catch: Copilot meters token usage at $0.01 per credit, so a heavy agent user can blow past the included credits and pay overage, while Claude Code's Pro plan caps by time rather than dollars.
What changed in GitHub Copilot billing on June 1, 2026?
Premium request units were replaced by GitHub AI Credits at 1 credit = $0.01, consumed on input, cached, and output tokens at each model's per-million rate. Pro is 1,500 credits ($15), Pro+ is 7,000 ($70), and a new Max plan is 20,000 ($200). Code completions and next edit suggestions stay unlimited and are not billed in credits on any paid plan.
How do Claude Code usage limits work?
A 5-hour rolling session window starts at your first message, plus a weekly cap across all models over 7 days, shared with claude.ai and Claude Desktop. Reported guidance: Pro is roughly 40 to 80 Sonnet hours/week, Max 5x ($100/mo) is roughly 140 to 280, and Max 20x ($200/mo) is roughly 240 to 480 Sonnet hours or up to about 40 Opus hours. "Active hours" means model processing time, not time at your desk.
Which scores higher, Claude Code or GitHub Copilot?
Claude Code with Opus 4.8 scores 78.9% on Terminal-Bench 2.1, ranked #2 behind Codex CLI + GPT-5.5 at 83.4%. Copilot has no single score because it is model-agnostic; its result equals whichever model you run. On SWE-bench Verified, Opus 4.8 leads frontier models at 88.6% self-reported, and you can select that same Opus 4.8 inside Copilot.
Can I sign up for GitHub Copilot Pro right now?
As of June 2026, new sign-ups are paused for Copilot Student, Pro, Pro+, and Max while GitHub rolls out the AI-credits billing; GitHub says they reopen in the coming weeks. Existing subscribers keep access. Claude Code has no sign-up pause and requires a Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise, or Console (API) account.
Does GitHub Copilot include Claude models?
Yes. The Copilot model menu includes Claude Opus 4.5 through 4.8 ($5/M in, $25/M out), Sonnet 4 through 4.6 ($3/$15), Haiku 4.5 ($1/$5), and Fable 5 (currently suspended, see note) ($10/$50), plus GPT-5.5 ($5/$30), Gemini 3.5 Flash ($1.50/$9), and Gemini 3.1 Pro ($2/$12). Claude Code runs Claude models only.
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