Should you build your own GitHub Copilot?
Buy it. Copilot Business is $19 a seat, and a homemade assistant costs about twice that once you pay for the API.
Short answer
Copilot Business costs $19 per seat a month, so five developers pay $3,420 over 3 years. Each seat includes $19 of AI credits that pool across your organization, and code completions never use credits. A setup of your own with Cline and API keys costs about $6,900 over 3 years once you add API fees and upkeep. Solo developers can take Pro at $10 a month.
- Buy for 3 years
- $3,420 Business, $19/mo × 5 seats
- Build and run for 3 years
- $6,865 12 h to build, 2 h/mo upkeep
- Verdict
- BUY Money and risk combined
Is GitHub Copilot on your card statement?
Stack Scan reads a statement in your browser, finds every subscription and shows what each one really costs you, with this verdict applied to your own numbers.
Cheaper options
GitHub Copilot pricing in 2026
| Plan | Billed yearly | Billed monthly |
|---|---|---|
| Pro | $10/seat/mo | – |
| Business Typical | $19/seat/mo | – |
| Pro+ | $39/seat/mo | – |
| Enterprise | $39/seat/mo | – |
| Max | $100/seat/mo | – |
Free plan: 2,000 code completions a month, plus limited chat and agent use
Paying too much? Copilot Free gives 2,000 completions a month and limited chat, which is enough for occasional use. A solo developer can take Pro at $10 a month instead of Business.
Per seat, billed monthly, because GitHub lists no annual price. Each plan includes AI credits worth its price (Business: 1,900 credits, at $0.01 each), and heavier use is billed at model API rates. Enterprise is $39 per seat and includes 3,900 credits. Checked October 26, 2026.
Run your own numbers
Defaults are a typical small team at $30/hour. Change anything.
Buying is about $3,445 cheaper over 3 years.
3-year totals. Building includes your time, upkeep, running costs and one month of an AI app builder ($25). Change any number to match your situation.
What you’d build
- VS Code with the Cline or Continue extension
- A shared proxy (such as LiteLLM) so one API key serves the team
- Per-developer budgets and a usage report
- A shared settings file for rules and approved models
Our estimate: about $19 per developer per month in model API fees (what a Business seat includes) plus $25 for a small proxy server.
What you’d give up
- Inline completions and Next Edit suggestions that never use credits
- Code review and the cloud agent inside GitHub pull requests
- Central management and policy control for your team
- Included usage that pools across the whole organization
Risks the price doesn’t show
Your proxy holds the team’s API keys and sees all your code.
Without per-person limits, one runaway agent can spend a month’s budget in a day.
Extensions, models and API prices change often.
When the verdict flips
Move to a SWITCH if your developers already have Claude Team or ChatGPT Business, which include Claude Code and Codex. You may not need a third AI subscription.
Sources
GitHub Copilot plans · Copilot plans (GitHub Docs) · Copilot usage-based billing (GitHub blog)
Build hours are our estimates for one person using an AI app builder. How we score. Spotted a wrong price? Tell us on X @BuildictHQ.
Related verdicts
ChatGPT
AI tools
Buy it. At $20 a seat, ChatGPT Business costs less than running your own chat app on the API.
- Buy, 3 yrs
- $3,600
- Build, 3 yrs
- $5,245
Claude
AI tools
Buy it. A $20 Team seat includes Claude Code, and a homemade setup on the API costs more.
- Buy, 3 yrs
- $3,600
- Build, 3 yrs
- $5,245
Cursor
AI tools
Switch to GitHub Copilot Business. At $19 a seat it costs 37% less than Cursor Teams at $30.
- Buy, 3 yrs
- $5,400
- Build, 3 yrs
- $8,845