Head-to-head · profiles checked Oct 1, 2026
Pick Microsoft Copilot for Office documents, email and everyday chat; pick GitHub Copilot for writing code in your editor or on GitHub. Paid entry is nearly the same, $9.99/mo for Microsoft 365 Personal against $10/mo for Copilot Pro, and both have a free option.
We wrote this from our own profiles of both tools, verified on October 1 (Microsoft Copilot) and September 30 (GitHub Copilot); neither profile holds a benchmark result, we used no third-party tests and took no vendor payments.
Pick Microsoft Copilot if you want a general assistant that works with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams and you already use Microsoft 365. Pick GitHub Copilot if you write code and want completions, chat and agents inside VS Code, JetBrains, Xcode or on GitHub itself. Despite the shared name they solve different jobs, so for most people this is not a close call. Both have a free option, and on price the paid entry points are almost identical: Microsoft 365 Personal is $9.99/mo and Copilot Pro is $10/mo. Our profiles hold no benchmark result for either, so we make no claim about answer quality.
Based on our profiles of both tools: Microsoft Copilot verified on October 1 and GitHub Copilot verified on September 30. Neither profile holds a benchmark result.
Our own captures of each vendor's public pages. Click a frame for the full-size image.
If you only want the answer, this is the table. Everything below is the evidence from the two documented profiles.
| You want to | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Draft a document from rough notes | Microsoft Copilot | Microsoft Copilot lists drafting in Word and uploading notes in chat; GitHub Copilot lists no document features. |
| Summarize an Outlook inbox | Microsoft Copilot | Microsoft Copilot lists summarizing Outlook email; availability varies by market. |
| Analyze spreadsheet data | Microsoft Copilot | Microsoft Copilot lists Excel integration on an eligible Microsoft 365 plan. |
| Ask a quick everyday question | Microsoft Copilot | Microsoft Copilot is a free chat app on web and mobile; GitHub Copilot Chat is aimed at coding questions. |
| Generate images | Microsoft Copilot | Microsoft Copilot lists image creation; our GitHub Copilot profile lists none. |
| Autocomplete code while typing | GitHub Copilot | GitHub Copilot documents inline suggestions and next edit suggestions; our Microsoft Copilot profile lists no code completion. |
| Refactor or fix code across several files | GitHub Copilot | GitHub Copilot documents agent mode in VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains, Eclipse and Xcode. |
| Hand an issue to an agent and get a pull request | GitHub Copilot | GitHub Copilot's cloud agent researches, commits to a branch and can open a pull request on paid plans. |
| Review a pull request with AI | GitHub Copilot | GitHub Copilot code review is on Pro and above, not on Free. |
| Hand off a multi-step project | Either | Microsoft Copilot offers Cowork for multi-step tasks; GitHub Copilot offers a cloud agent and CLI for coding tasks. |
| Plan | Tool | Price | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copilot (free) | Microsoft Copilot | $0 | Some capabilities subject to usage limits |
| Microsoft 365 Personal | Microsoft Copilot | $9.99/mo; $99.99/yr | 1 person, 5 devices at once, 1 TB cloud storage |
| Microsoft 365 Family | Microsoft Copilot | $12.99/mo; $129.99/yr | 1 to 6 people, but AI is for the subscription owner only; 6 TB total storage |
| Microsoft 365 Premium | Microsoft Copilot | $19.99/mo; $199.99/yr | Extensive chat, image and audio usage; limited agentic AI usage |
| Microsoft 365 Pro | Microsoft Copilot | $99.99/mo, monthly billing only | Highest usage limits |
| Copilot Free | GitHub Copilot | $0 | 2,000 completions per month; limited chat and agent credits; auto model selection only |
| Copilot Student | GitHub Copilot | $0 | Verified students only; allowance of AI credits not quantified |
| Copilot Pro | GitHub Copilot | $10/mo | 1,500 total monthly AI credits; unlimited completions |
| Copilot Pro+ | GitHub Copilot | $39/mo | 7,000 total monthly AI credits; premium models |
| Copilot Max | GitHub Copilot | $100/mo | 20,000 total monthly AI credits |
| Copilot Business | GitHub Copilot | $19/seat/mo | 1,900 AI credits per user per month, pooled |
| Copilot Enterprise | GitHub Copilot | $39/seat/mo | 3,900 AI credits per user per month, pooled; requires GitHub Enterprise Cloud |
USD as published on each vendor's pricing page, checked Oct 1, 2026. Microsoft Copilot pricing in full · GitHub Copilot pricing in full
| Microsoft Copilot | GitHub Copilot | |
|---|---|---|
| Messages / rate limits | Not stated: free-tier limits are not quantified; paid Microsoft 365 plans give higher usage | Metered in AI credits: Pro 1,500, Pro+ 7,000, Max 20,000 per month; 1 credit costs $0.01 beyond the allowance |
| Context / file size | Not stated | Not stated |
| Seats / team | Family covers 1 to 6 people, but AI is for the subscription owner only | Business and Enterprise are per seat, with credits pooled across the organization |
| Feature | Microsoft Copilot | GitHub Copilot |
|---|---|---|
| Image generation | Yes: image creation in the free app | Not stated |
| Voice | Yes: voice when signed in | Not stated |
| File upload | Yes: when signed in | Code context from open files; file upload is not stated |
| Web search | Yes: the free app lists search | Not stated |
| Agents / tools | Yes: Cowork for multi-step tasks; Researcher and Analyst on Premium and Pro | Yes: IDE agent mode, CLI, cloud agent and MCP servers |
| API | Not stated | Copilot SDK exposes sessions and credit usage; no pay-per-token model API found |
| Mobile apps | Yes: iOS and Android | GitHub Mobile offers Copilot Chat |
| IDE integration | No | VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains, Eclipse, Xcode, Neovim |
| Microsoft Copilot | GitHub Copilot | |
|---|---|---|
| Training on your data | Not stated | Individual plans may be used for training unless you opt out; Business and Enterprise data is not used for training |
| Retention | Not stated | Business and Enterprise IDE chat and completions: engagement data kept two years; other details per GitHub's FAQ |
| Business controls | Not stated | Public code filter, content exclusion, policies, budgets, audit logs, MCP allow lists, Data Protection Agreement |
Taken from each vendor's published policy pages at the time of our check. Policies change; the source links are at the bottom.
Microsoft's AI assistant app on web, Windows, Mac, iOS and Android, connected to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams.
Free stops at: Some capabilities subject to usage limits
Verified copilot.microsoft.com (opens Microsoft Copilot website in a new tab)
Free · paid from $9.99/mo US · checked Sep 29
AI coding assistant from GitHub offering code completions, chat and agent features in editors, the terminal and GitHub.
Free stops at: 2,000 completions per month, Limited chat and agent usage (allowance of GitHub AI Credits)
Verified github.com (opens GitHub Copilot website in a new tab)
Free · paid from $10/mo US · checked Sep 30
No. Microsoft Copilot is a general AI assistant app that connects to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams. GitHub Copilot is a coding assistant for editors, GitHub.com and the terminal. They share a name and a corporate parent, since GitHub is a Microsoft company, but they are sold, priced and used separately.
Both have a free option. Paid entry is close: Microsoft 365 Personal is $9.99/mo and GitHub Copilot Pro is $10/mo. The Microsoft price includes Office apps and 1 TB of storage, while GitHub Pro includes 1,500 monthly AI credits and unlimited completions.
Our Microsoft Copilot profile does not list coding as a use case or feature, so we cannot say it replaces an editor tool. GitHub Copilot documents inline completions, IDE agent mode, a CLI and a cloud agent for code.
Not according to its documentation. GitHub Copilot works in supported IDEs, on GitHub.com, in GitHub Mobile and in the CLI. Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook integration is a Microsoft Copilot feature.
For GitHub Copilot, individual plans may be used for training unless you opt out, while Business and Enterprise data is not. For Microsoft Copilot, training use is not stated on the pages we fetched, so check Microsoft's privacy statement before sharing sensitive files.
Yes, nothing in either profile prevents it, and they cover different tasks: Microsoft Copilot for documents and mail, GitHub Copilot for code. Each needs its own account and plan, and Microsoft 365 Family shares Copilot with nobody beyond the subscription owner.
Only official vendor pages. No third-party benchmarks, forum threads or press were used. How we review.
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