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I use both GH Copilot as well as CC extensively and it does seem more economical, though I wonder how long this will last as I imagine Github has also been subs

by giwook 6mo ago

I use both GH Copilot as well as CC extensively and it does seem more economical, though I wonder how long this will last as I imagine Github has also been subsidizing LLM usage extensively. FWIW it feels like GH Copilot is a cheaper version of OpenRouter but with trade-offs like being locked into VSCode and the Microsoft ecosystem overall. I already use VSCode though and otherwise I don't see much downside to using GH Copilot outside of that.

satvikpendem 6mo ago
I'm hopeful because Microsoft already has a partnership and owns much of OpenAI so can get their models at cost to host on Azure with they already do, so they can pass on the savings to the user. This is why Opus is 3x as expensive in Copilot, because Microsoft needs to buy API usage from Anthropic directly.
- treesknees 6mo ago
  I don’t think it’s API costs. Their Sonnet 4.6 is just 1x premium request which matches the 1x cost of the various GPT Codex models.
  - satvikpendem 6mo ago
    Sonnet is the worse model though, therefore it's expected that it is cheaper, the comparison would be Opus and GPT. That Anthropic's worse model is the same request cost as the best OpenAI model is what I mean when talking about Microsoft flexing their partnership.
treesknees 6mo ago
You’re not locked into vscode. There are plugins for other IDEs, and a ‘copilot’ cli tool very similar to Claude Code’s cli tool. I also wouldn’t say you’re locked into Microsoft’s ecosystem. At work we just have skills that allow for interaction with Bitbucket and other internal tooling. You’re not forced to use GitHub at all.
sassymuffinz 6mo ago
You could use something like [https://opencode.ai https://opencode.ai](OpenCode) which supports integration with Copilot.
lossyalgo 6mo ago
> but with trade-offs like being locked into VSCode and the Microsoft ecosystem overall You can use GH Copilot with most of Jetbrains IDEs.
WithinReason 6mo ago
You can use copilot models from OpenCode: https://github.blog/changelog/2026-01-16-github-copilot-now-supports-opencode/ https://github.blog/changelog/2026-01-16-github-copilot-now-...

by giwook 6mo ago

satvikpendem 6mo ago

I'm hopeful because Microsoft already has a partnership and owns much of OpenAI so can get their models at cost to host on Azure with they already do, so they can pass on the savings to the user. This is why Opus is 3x as expensive in Copilot, because Microsoft needs to buy API usage from Anthropic directly.

treesknees 6mo ago
I don’t think it’s API costs. Their Sonnet 4.6 is just 1x premium request which matches the 1x cost of the various GPT Codex models.
- satvikpendem 6mo ago
  Sonnet is the worse model though, therefore it's expected that it is cheaper, the comparison would be Opus and GPT. That Anthropic's worse model is the same request cost as the best OpenAI model is what I mean when talking about Microsoft flexing their partnership.

treesknees 6mo ago

You’re not locked into vscode. There are plugins for other IDEs, and a ‘copilot’ cli tool very similar to Claude Code’s cli tool. I also wouldn’t say you’re locked into Microsoft’s ecosystem. At work we just have skills that allow for interaction with Bitbucket and other internal tooling. You’re not forced to use GitHub at all.

sassymuffinz 6mo ago

You could use something like [https://opencode.ai https://opencode.ai](OpenCode) which supports integration with Copilot.

lossyalgo 6mo ago

> but with trade-offs like being locked into VSCode and the Microsoft ecosystem overall You can use GH Copilot with most of Jetbrains IDEs.

WithinReason 6mo ago

You can use copilot models from OpenCode: https://github.blog/changelog/2026-01-16-github-copilot-now-supports-opencode/ https://github.blog/changelog/2026-01-16-github-copilot-now-...