AI coding assistants · Comparison
Claude Code vs Gemini Code Assist vs GitHub Copilot
3 products compared side by side: what you pay for with each one first, then the five access facts, entry prices, recorded plan limits and the bottom line of each review. The evidence note under the table says how each product was checked.
Side by side
| Metric | Claude Code | Gemini Code Assist | GitHub Copilot |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you're paying for | Saves engineering timeA coding agent for the terminal, IDEs and the web, sold with Claude chat on one seat, with no training and IP indemnity on Team. | Compliance includedFor existing Google Cloud customers: completion, chat and an agent mode with daily request quotas, IP indemnity and no prompt storage. | Compliance includedUnlimited completions plus chat and agents on models from several providers, with no training on your code and IP indemnity from $19 a user. |
| Overall score | 5.6 | 4.1 | 8.3Best |
| Free option | Paid only | Paid only | Free plan |
| Card to start | –Not measured | –Not measured | –Not measured |
| Getting access | Self-serve | –Not measured | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $20/mo | $22.80/user/mo | $10/mo |
| Pricing model | Per seat | Per seat | Seat + usage |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices |
| Billing unit | Per seat per month; extra usage as usage credits at API rates | Per user per month; daily request quotas, no overage | Per user per month; chat and agent usage in AI credits ($0.01 each) |
| Free option | None with Claude Code; the Free plan excludes it | None now; the individual tier stopped on June 18, 2026 | Copilot Free: 2,000 completions a month, limited chat and agent usage |
| Reference scenario (5 developers) | $100/mo on Team Standard seats ($20 × 5, annual), computed | Not priced: new subscriptions ended Oct 9, 2026 (existing: $95/mo on Standard) | $95/mo on Business ($19 × 5, billed monthly), computed |
| Included usage (organization plan) | 1.25x Pro per session per seat, shared with chat; no absolute size stated | 6,000 code, 960 chat and 1,500 agent requests per user a day | 1,900 AI credits ($19) per user a month, pooled; completions unlimited |
| Usage beyond the plan | Usage credits at API rates, off until turned on; spend limits | None; requests stop until the quota resets | Per-token rates in AI credits; on by default for organizations, budgets available |
| Models | Anthropic only (Fable, Opus, Sonnet, Haiku) | Google Gemini models only | Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI, Microsoft and Moonshot models on Business |
| Training on your code | Not on Team and Enterprise by default; Free, Pro and Max opt-out | Gemini does not train on prompts or responses | Not on Business and Enterprise; Free to Max train unless you opt out |
| Data retention | 30 days on Team; zero data retention on qualified Enterprise accounts | Stateless: prompts and responses not stored | IDE prompts not retained; other surfaces 28 days (Business) |
| IP indemnity | Commercial plans (Team, Enterprise, API), no liability cap | Standard and Enterprise, unmodified output | Business and Enterprise, unmodified suggestions with the filter on |
| SSO / SCIM / audit log | SAML SSO on Team; SCIM and audit logs on Enterprise | SSO through Cloud Identity federation; SCIM not stated; Cloud Audit Logs | SAML SSO and audit log listed for Business; SCIM through managed users in an enterprise account |
| SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and ISO 42001 | SOC 1, 2 and 3 (Type II not stated), ISO 27001 | SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 cover Copilot Business and Enterprise |
| Editors and surfaces | Terminal, VS Code, JetBrains, desktop, web, iOS and Android, Slack, CI | VS Code, JetBrains IDEs, Android Studio, Cloud Shell, Cloud Workstations | VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains, Xcode, Eclipse, Neovim, Zed, CLI, github.com |
| Bottom line | From its public pages, Claude Code gives a team an agent for the terminal, IDE and web, plus Claude chat, on a $20 annual seat with no-training terms and uncapped IP indemnity. Usage is stated only as multiples, and models are Anthropic-only. | From its public pages, Gemini Code Assist offers clear quotas, IP indemnity and no prompt storage, but new subscriptions ended on Oct 9, 2026, so it suits existing Google Cloud customers rather than new buyers. | From its public pages, Copilot Business puts unlimited completions, $19 of pooled usage per user, a wide model choice and the main enterprise controls on a $19 seat. Set budgets early: extra usage is on by default for organizations. |
Evidence: Claude Code: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Gemini Code Assist: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; GitHub Copilot: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run. Prices in USD as listed, excluding tax. "–" means not recorded.
When to pick each
In the words of each review, with the date its facts were checked.
From our Claude Code review
Checked Oct 16, 2026- Pick Claude Code when
- You want an agent-first tool for the terminal with chat on the same seat, and IP indemnity without a filter condition.
- Pick GitHub Copilot when
- You want inline completions, models from several providers, usage priced in dollars and an audit log on Business.
From our Gemini Code Assist review
Checked Oct 16, 2026- Pick Gemini Code Assist when
- You already hold a subscription and want daily request quotas with no overage on Google Cloud.
- Pick GitHub Copilot when
- You are buying today and want several model providers, unlimited completions and pooled credits at $19 a seat.
From our GitHub Copilot review
Checked Oct 16, 2026- Pick GitHub Copilot when
- You want inline completions, models from several providers and an audit log on the team plan.
- Pick Claude Code when
- You want a terminal-first agent on Anthropic models, with Claude chat on the same seat, at $20 a seat on annual terms.
Entry price
Baseline: each product's cheapest paid plan, per month. Included usage differs, so read the line under each price.
- Claude CodePro$20/mo$17 a month billed annually ($200 up front); individuals
- Claude Code and Claude chat in one usage pool
- At least 5x Free usage per session
- Opus, Sonnet and Haiku; Fable through usage credits
- Gemini Code AssistStandard$22.80/user/mo$19 with an annual commitment; no longer sold to new customers since Oct 9, 2026
- Code completion, chat and agent mode
- 6,000 code and 960 chat requests per user a day
- 1,500 agent requests per user a day
- IP indemnity
- GitHub CopilotLowest pricePro$10/moIndividuals; 1,500 AI credits ($15) a month, of which 500 are a flex allotment that may change
- Unlimited completions and next edit suggestions
- Cloud agent and pull request code review
- Most models; some premium models excluded
Prices as listed on each pricing page, in USD per month, excluding tax. Observed: Claude Code 2026-10-16, Gemini Code Assist 2026-10-16, GitHub Copilot 2026-10-16.
Which one fits
- If you need to start today without a sales call
- GitHub CopilotSelf-serve sign-up; the highest score of the 2 self-serve products here (8.3/10).
- Lowest starter price
- GitHub Copilot$10/mo for the Pro (individual) plan.
- Highest overall score
- GitHub Copilot8.3/10 (Excellent). The review shows the score breakdown and the run behind it.
Picked by fixed rules from the table above, not by hand. How we score
Full reviews
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