GitHub Copilot Alternatives for VS Code: 3 Picks (2026)
GitHub Copilot alternatives for VS Code compared: Cline, Tabby and Continue, plus Copilot's own Free plan, with prices, local-model support and caveats.
•3 min read•AI Coding & Local LLMs
Verdict:Cline is the strongest open-source agent inside VS Code, Tabby is the self-hosted completion server, and Continue is worth a look only with its maintenance status in mind. Copilot Free is the baseline to beat.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cline | Free, open source (Apache 2.0); you pay your model provider | VS Code | An agent in VS Code that edits files and runs commands with your own or a local model | Docs only |
| Tabby | Free, open source, self-hosted; no pricing on its GitHub page | VS Code, Self-hosted server | Copilot-style code completion that runs on your own server | Docs only |
| Continue | Free, open source (Apache-2.0) | VS Code, JetBrains | Chat, edit and autocomplete in VS Code, if you accept its maintenance status | Docs only |
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Good fit if
- You want an AI assistant in VS Code without paying Copilot's $10 per month
- You want to bring your own model, including a local one
- You need code to stay on your own machine or server
Not ideal if
- You want one flat price with no API bill and no setup
- You want a different editor rather than a VS Code extension
- You need vendor support and compliance paperwork
Short answer: for an open-source agent inside VS Code, use Cline. For Copilot-style completion on your own server, use Tabby. Continue covers chat, edit and autocomplete, but its GitHub page now says it is no longer actively maintained. Before switching, compare with Copilot Free: per GitHub, it gives 2,000 inline suggestions a month at $0.
What matters for VS Code
The reader here wants an extension, not a new editor. The criteria: it works inside VS Code, how you pay (free, your own API key or a subscription), whether you can run a local model, whether the project is maintained, and how much setup it takes.
According to GitHub's plans page, Copilot Free costs $0 with 2,000 inline suggestions a month and limited chat and agent usage. Pro is $10 per month with $15 of credits, Pro+ is $39 with $70, and Max is $100 with $200. One credit equals $0.01, completions and next edit suggestions do not use credits, and VS Code is included on all four plans. If you leave Copilot over cost, the alternatives below mostly swap a flat fee for model bills or your own hardware.
Cline
Cline is an open-source autonomous coding agent under Apache 2.0, available as a VS Code extension, per its GitHub page. It works with Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, OpenRouter and AWS Bedrock, with Ollama and LM Studio for local models, and with any OpenAI-compatible API.
It edits files and runs commands, has Plan and Act modes and offers checkpoints. By default every file edit and command needs your approval. The page mentions no inline autocomplete and states no price, so costs are whatever your model provider or local hardware charges.
Pick it if you want an agent more than completion. Skip it if tab-to-complete is the feature you use most.
Tabby
Tabby describes itself as an open-source, on-premises alternative to GitHub Copilot, according to its GitHub page. It runs on your own infrastructure, supports consumer-grade GPUs and has a VS Code extension.
Its docs say it works with coding models such as CodeLlama, StarCoder and CodeGen. No pricing appears there, and hardware requirements were not checked here, so look them up before you plan around a laptop.
Choose it when code must stay on a server you control and you can run that server. It is more setup than installing an extension and signing in.
Continue
Continue is an open-source assistant for VS Code and JetBrains with agent, chat, edit and autocomplete modes, per its docs. That mode list makes it the closest feature match to Copilot among these three.
The catch is on its GitHub page: the repository is described as no longer actively maintained and read-only, after a final 2.0.0 release that removed anonymous telemetry and authentication. It is Apache-2.0 and still on the VS Code Marketplace and OpenVSX.
Use it if a frozen tool is acceptable. Prefer Cline or Tabby for something you expect to keep updated.
Comparison
| Tool | Price on official page | Inline autocomplete | Local model | Maintenance note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Copilot Free | $0, 2,000 suggestions/month | Yes | Not stated | Current plan |
| Cline | Free; you pay your model provider | Not mentioned | Ollama, LM Studio | Apache 2.0 |
| Tabby | Free; self-hosted | Built for completion | Runs on your server | Open source |
| Continue | Free | Autocomplete mode | Not stated on page | Repository read-only |
How to choose
If you only want to stop paying $10 a month, try Copilot Free first and see whether 2,000 suggestions covers you. If you want an agent and are fine paying an API provider, use Cline. If privacy rules out cloud models, run a local model through Ollama with Cline, or host Tabby yourself. Per Ollama's pricing, running models on your own hardware is unlimited.
For wider lists see free AI code assistants, open-source AI code assistants and Visual Studio Code alternatives.
Limits of this review
No tool was installed or run, so completion quality and speed are not compared. No Reddit thread could be opened for this query. Codeium, Tabnine, Sourcegraph Cody, Supermaven and others in the roundups were left out because no official pricing page was read. Amazon Q Developer was left out because its pricing page names no VS Code support.
FAQ
What is a free GitHub Copilot alternative for VS Code?
Cline, Continue and Tabby are free open-source tools with VS Code extensions, but Cline and Continue need a model, and a hosted model bills usage. Copilot itself has a Free plan with 2,000 inline suggestions a month, per GitHub's plans page, so compare against that first.
Is there an open-source GitHub Copilot alternative?
Yes. Cline is Apache 2.0, Continue is Apache-2.0, and Tabby describes itself as an open-source, on-premises alternative to Copilot. Continue's GitHub page says the repository is no longer actively maintained and is read-only, so weigh that before building a long-term workflow around it. Cline and Tabby were not checked for maintenance status here.
Can I use a local LLM instead of Copilot in VS Code?
Yes. Cline's page lists Ollama and LM Studio for running local models on your machine. Tabby runs its own server and works with models such as CodeLlama and StarCoder, per its docs. Ollama says running models on your own hardware is unlimited.
Do these tools work in editors other than VS Code?
Continue's docs list both VS Code and JetBrains. Cline's GitHub page describes a VS Code extension, and Tabby's page lists a VS Code extension. This page covers VS Code only and other editors were not checked, so look at each project's documentation if you also use JetBrains IDEs, Visual Studio or Neovim.
Do these alternatives do autocomplete like Copilot?
Not all. Continue lists an autocomplete mode, and Tabby is built around code completion. Cline's GitHub page describes an agent that edits files and runs commands and mentions no inline autocomplete, so pair it with another completion tool if you want that.
How much does Copilot cost compared with these?
GitHub's plans page lists Free at $0, Pro at $10 per month, Pro+ at $39 and Max at $100. Completions and next edit suggestions use no credits. Cline and Continue charge nothing, but you pay your model provider unless you run a local model.
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Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Information comes from GitHub's Copilot plans page, the GitHub pages for Cline, Continue and Tabby, the Continue and Tabby docs, and Amazon's Q Developer pricing page, plus three roundup articles from 2024 to 2026 for the shortlist, all read on 2026-10-26. Prices are those shown on the vendor pages that day.