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DeepSeek vs GitHub Copilot

Features, pricing, ratings, and pros and cons, side by side.

GitHub Copilot logo

GitHub Copilot

AI coding assistant for code completion, chat and cloud agents across IDEs, terminal and GitHub

Freemium
Visit websiteView details

Verdict

DeepSeek is listed under AI Assistants and GitHub Copilot under Coding AI. Both have a free plan or trial. Only DeepSeek is available on Windows, iOS and Android and offers an API. Only GitHub Copilot is available on VS Code Extension, JetBrains Plugin and CLI.

Best overall

DeepSeek

  • Software developers
  • Researchers and analysts
  • Students
  • AI engineers

Choose DeepSeek if

  • You want a tool built for Low-cost API integration.
  • Web chat and mobile apps are free.
  • API output costs from $0.60 per 1M tokens (Flash, off-peak), well below most frontier providers.

Choose GitHub Copilot if

  • You want a tool built for inline code completion in popular IDEs.
  • Works in VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains, Xcode, Neovim and Eclipse, plus the terminal and GitHub.com.
  • Free plan with 2,000 inline suggestions and agent mode, and Pro at $10 per month.
Best for beginners
DeepSeek
Best for business
GitHub Copilot

Features

19 features compared.

  • V4 model family
    DeepSeek
    Available
    GitHub Copilot
    Not available
  • Thinking mode
    DeepSeek
    Available
    GitHub Copilot
    Not available
  • Open weights
    DeepSeek
    Available
    GitHub Copilot
    Not available
  • OpenAI and Anthropic compatible API
    DeepSeek
    Available
    GitHub Copilot
    Not available
  • Tool calls and JSON output
    DeepSeek
    Available
    GitHub Copilot
    Not available
  • Search and Fetch APIs
    DeepSeek
    Available
    GitHub Copilot
    Not available
  • Agent tool integrations
    DeepSeek
    Available
    GitHub Copilot
    Not available
  • DeepSeek Harness
    DeepSeek
    Available
    GitHub Copilot
    Not available
  • Vision on Flash
    DeepSeek
    Available
    GitHub Copilot
    Not available
  • Code completions
    DeepSeek
    Not available
    GitHub Copilot
    Available
  • Copilot Chat
    DeepSeek
    Not available
    GitHub Copilot
    Available
  • Agent mode
    DeepSeek
    Not available
    GitHub Copilot
    Available
  • Cloud agent
    DeepSeek
    Not available
    GitHub Copilot
    Available
  • Third-party agents
    DeepSeek
    Not available
    GitHub Copilot
    Available
  • Copilot code review
    DeepSeek
    Not available
    GitHub Copilot
    Available
  • Copilot CLI
    DeepSeek
    Not available
    GitHub Copilot
    Available
  • Model choice
    DeepSeek
    Not available
    GitHub Copilot
    Available
  • Custom agents and MCP
    DeepSeek
    Not available
    GitHub Copilot
    Available
  • Copilot Spaces
    DeepSeek
    Not available
    GitHub Copilot
    Available

Pricing

Plans as listed by each vendor. Check their sites for current prices.

  • Pricing model
    DeepSeek
    Freemium
    GitHub Copilot
    Freemium
  • Free plan
    DeepSeek
    Yes
    GitHub Copilot
    Yes
  • Starting price
    DeepSeek
    $0
    GitHub Copilot
    $0
  • Plans
    DeepSeek
    3 plans
    GitHub Copilot
    6 plans

DeepSeek plans

  • Chat and App

    Most popular

    $0

    Free access to DeepSeek models on web, iOS and Android

    • Web chat
    • iOS and Android apps
    • Thinking mode
    • Web search
    • File upload

  • API: deepseek-flash

    $0.15/1M input tokens

    Pay as you go; $0.15 cache-miss input and $0.60 output per 1M tokens off-peak, double at peak

    • 1M context
    • 384K max output
    • Vision
    • Tool calls
    • JSON output

  • API: deepseek-v4-pro

    $0.66/1M input tokens

    Pay as you go; $0.66 cache-miss input and $1.98 output per 1M tokens off-peak, double at peak

    • 1M context
    • 384K max output
    • Tool calls
    • JSON output

GitHub Copilot plans

  • Free

    $0

    For trying Copilot with limited usage

    • 2,000 inline suggestions per month
    • Limited chat and agent usage
    • Agent mode
    • Copilot CLI
    • MCP support

  • Pro

    Most popular

    $10/month

    For individual developers

    • Unlimited inline suggestions
    • 1,500 AI credits per month
    • Cloud agent
    • Code review
    • Model choice

  • Pro+

    $39/month

    For heavier individual use and premium models

    • Everything in Pro
    • 7,000 AI credits per month
    • Premium models
    • Third-party agents including Claude and Codex

  • Max

    $100/month

    For the highest individual usage

    • Everything in Pro+
    • 20,000 AI credits per month
    • Priority access to premium models

  • Business

    $19/user/mo

    For teams that need central management

    • 1,900 AI credits per user
    • Policy control
    • Audit logs
    • Centralized management
    • No training on organization data

  • Enterprise

    $39/user/mo

    For organizations on GitHub Enterprise Cloud

    • 3,900 AI credits per user
    • Everything in Business
    • Priority access to premium models
    • Enterprise capabilities

Our ratings

Scored out of 10 by the Finder Atlas editorial team. Last reviewed November 2026.

DeepSeek
8.8overall
GitHub Copilot
8.6overall

  • Reasoning & Logic

    DeepSeek
    8.8
    GitHub Copilot
    Not rated

  • Coding & Syntax

    DeepSeek
    8.7
    GitHub Copilot
    Not rated

  • Cost Efficiency

    DeepSeek
    9.6
    GitHub Copilot
    Not rated

  • Long Context

    DeepSeek
    8.8
    GitHub Copilot
    Not rated

  • Ease of Use

    DeepSeek
    8.0
    GitHub Copilot
    Not rated

  • Inline Autocomplete Speed

    DeepSeek
    Not rated
    GitHub Copilot
    9.0

  • IDE Integration

    DeepSeek
    Not rated
    GitHub Copilot
    9.4

  • Multi-Language Support

    DeepSeek
    Not rated
    GitHub Copilot
    9.0

  • Agent Capability

    DeepSeek
    Not rated
    GitHub Copilot
    8.3

  • Pricing Predictability

    DeepSeek
    Not rated
    GitHub Copilot
    7.3

Scores weigh documented features, plan value, platform coverage, integrations and user feedback. A missing score means we have not rated that area yet.

Pros and cons

DeepSeek

Pros

  • Web chat and mobile apps are free
  • API output costs from $0.60 per 1M tokens (Flash, off-peak), well below most frontier providers
  • Open weights for V4 and earlier models on Hugging Face
  • 1M-token context and 384K max output on both API models
  • API works with both OpenAI and Anthropic SDKs and several coding agents

Cons

  • Peak-hour API rates are double the off-peak rates on weekday mornings UTC
  • deepseek-v4-pro does not support vision input
  • No image generation
  • Data is processed by a company based in China, which some organizations cannot accept

GitHub Copilot

Pros

  • Works in VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains, Xcode, Neovim and Eclipse, plus the terminal and GitHub.com
  • Free plan with 2,000 inline suggestions and agent mode, and Pro at $10 per month
  • Cloud agent turns assigned tasks into pull requests inside GitHub
  • Models from several vendors can be chosen, including Claude and GPT models
  • Business and Enterprise add policy control and audit logs, and their data is not used for training

Cons

  • Chat and agent use is credit-based, so heavy use can exceed the monthly allowance
  • Premium models and third-party agents need Pro+ at $39 per month or higher
  • Free, Pro and Pro+ interaction data may be used for training unless the user opts out
  • Not available for GitHub Enterprise Server

Platforms

  • Web
    DeepSeek
    Supported
    GitHub Copilot
    Supported
  • Windows
    DeepSeek
    Supported
    GitHub Copilot
    Not supported
  • macOS
    DeepSeek
    Supported
    GitHub Copilot
    Supported
  • iOS
    DeepSeek
    Supported
    GitHub Copilot
    Not supported
  • Android
    DeepSeek
    Supported
    GitHub Copilot
    Not supported
  • API
    DeepSeek
    Supported
    GitHub Copilot
    Not supported
  • Browser Extension
    DeepSeek
    Not supported
    GitHub Copilot
    Not supported
  • VS Code Extension
    DeepSeek
    Not supported
    GitHub Copilot
    Supported
  • JetBrains Plugin
    DeepSeek
    Not supported
    GitHub Copilot
    Supported
  • CLI
    DeepSeek
    Not supported
    GitHub Copilot
    Supported

Integrations

DeepSeek

6 integrations
  • OpenAI SDK
  • Anthropic SDK
  • Claude Code
  • Codex
  • OpenCode
  • Hugging Face

GitHub Copilot

8 integrations
  • Visual Studio
  • Xcode
  • Neovim
  • Eclipse
  • Raycast
  • GitHub
  • GitHub Actions
  • MCP servers

Company

  • Company
    DeepSeek
    DeepSeek
    GitHub Copilot
    GitHub
  • Founded
    DeepSeek
    2023
    GitHub Copilot
    2008
  • Headquarters
    DeepSeek
    Hangzhou, China
    GitHub Copilot
    San Francisco, CA
  • Listing
    DeepSeek
    Claimed
    GitHub Copilot
    Claimed

Frequently asked questions

Is DeepSeek better than GitHub Copilot?

It depends on your workflow. DeepSeek is built for Low-cost API integration. GitHub Copilot is built for inline code completion in popular IDEs.

What are the key feature differences between DeepSeek and GitHub Copilot?

DeepSeek: Free AI chat app and low-cost API running DeepSeek's open-weights V4 models. GitHub Copilot: AI coding assistant for code completion, chat and cloud agents across IDEs, terminal and GitHub.

Does DeepSeek or GitHub Copilot have a free plan?

Yes, both do. DeepSeek is freemium and GitHub Copilot is freemium, and each has a free plan or trial.

Which is cheaper, DeepSeek or GitHub Copilot?

Both can be used for free. Paid plans differ in limits and features, so compare the tiers in the pricing table above.