GitHub Copilot is a cloud-based paid service with broader language model access and VS Code integration, while Continue is a free, open-source IDE extension that runs locally and supports multiple AI providers including Claude, GPT-4, and local models.
Continue vs GitHub Copilot — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
Open-source AI code assistant with local-first privacy and customizable models
IDE-integrated AI code completion that suggests code snippets in real-time while you type.
Pricing Model. Deployment. Supported IDE Count. AI Model Provider Options. Context Window Size. Code Completion Speed. Data Privacy
Choose Continue if you prioritize cost savings (free), data privacy, flexibility to use multiple AI providers, and larger context windows for complex codebases. Choose GitHub Copilot if you want the fastest code completion, integration with GitHub's security features, seamless enterprise SSO, and don't mind the subscription cost or cloud processing.
Continue: 5-10 minutes | GitHub Copilot: 2-3 minutes
Continue: 10-20 (API key + config required) | GitHub Copilot: N/A
Continue: Unlimited with local models | GitHub Copilot: N/A
Continue: 200-500ms average | GitHub Copilot: N/A
Continue: Up to 100,000+ tokens | GitHub Copilot: 128K tokens
Continue: VS Code, JetBrains suite, Vim, Neovim (4 major platforms) | GitHub Copilot: N/A
Continue: Free (optional donations for commercial use) | GitHub Copilot: N/A
Continue: 50+ (with LLM-dependent support) | GitHub Copilot: N/A
Continue: $0 (self-hosted) | GitHub Copilot: N/A
Continue: 3 (VSCode, JetBrains, Cursor) | GitHub Copilot: 60+
Continue: Claude, GPT-4, Llama, Mistral, local | GitHub Copilot: N/A
Continue: Local + optional cloud | GitHub Copilot: Cloud (GitHub servers)
Continue: Unlimited (depends on API usage) | GitHub Copilot: N/A
Continue: Full JSON config (prompts, model params, shortcuts) | GitHub Copilot: N/A
Continue: Free (+ API costs) | GitHub Copilot: $10
Continue: 5+ (Claude, GPT-4, Llama 2, custom, local) | GitHub Copilot: 2 (GPT-4, Claude)
Continue: 4 major (VS Code, JetBrains, Vim, Web) | GitHub Copilot: 4 major (VS Code, Visual Studio, GitHub.com, JetBrains Beta)
Continue: 6+ (Claude, GPT-4, Ollama, local) | GitHub Copilot: GitHub Copilot (proprietary, Codex-based)
Continue: 5+ (VS Code, JetBrains, Vim) | GitHub Copilot: N/A
Continue: 8000-200000 (model-dependent) | GitHub Copilot: N/A
Continue: Yes (Ollama, LLaMA) | GitHub Copilot: N/A
Continue: Yes (full local support) | GitHub Copilot: No (cloud-only)
Continue: ~0.05 million (2025 estimate) | GitHub Copilot: 1.5+ million (GitHub official, 2024)
Continue: No (community-driven) | GitHub Copilot: Yes (GitHub Enterprise available)
Continue: 15–30 min (API key configuration) | GitHub Copilot: 2–5 min (GitHub sign-in)
Continue: Optional (local or cloud) | GitHub Copilot: Mandatory (cloud-based)
Continue: 800-1200 | GitHub Copilot: 150-250ms per suggestion
Continue: Yes (default) | GitHub Copilot: N/A
Continue: Full open-source (Apache 2.0) | GitHub Copilot: N/A
Continue: Unlimited | GitHub Copilot: N/A
Continue: 2024 | GitHub Copilot: April 2024
Continue: 2-5 sec (Claude/GPT-4) | GitHub Copilot: N/A
Continue: $50-150 for power users | GitHub Copilot: N/A
Continue: 10+ providers supported | GitHub Copilot: N/A
Continue: Required for cloud models | GitHub Copilot: N/A
Continue: 8GB minimum (16GB recommended) | GitHub Copilot: N/A
Continue: Native VS Code extension | GitHub Copilot: N/A
Continue: Depends on provider, some cloud processing | GitHub Copilot: N/A
Continue: 15-30 minutes (model download + config) | GitHub Copilot: N/A
Continue: 5-15 seconds (hardware-dependent) | GitHub Copilot: N/A
Continue: 4 major platforms (VS Code, JetBrains, Vim, Neovim) | GitHub Copilot: N/A
Continue: Unlimited (fully free and open-source) | GitHub Copilot: N/A
Continue: $0 (open-source) or hosted option available | GitHub Copilot: N/A
Continue: Local-only, zero cloud transmission | GitHub Copilot: N/A
Continue: Yes (GitHub public repository) | GitHub Copilot: N/A
Continue: 200,000 | GitHub Copilot: 8,000
Continue: Varies by provider | GitHub Copilot: 250,000,000
Continue: Free + $20 Pro | GitHub Copilot: N/A
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: 10+ IDEs
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: Very Large
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: 3+ model choices
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: Minimal (extension)
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: Copilot Pro $10/mo
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: Free tier with limited completions/chat, plus free for verified students, teachers, and OSS maintainers
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: Business $19/user/mo (Enterprise $39)
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: Plugin/extension installed into your existing IDE
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: Anthropic Claude, OpenAI GPT, Google Gemini (model picker in chat/agent)
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: Agent mode + Copilot Workspace + coding agent (issue-to-PR); strong but tighter loop trails Cursor
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: Repository context, @workspace search, and Enterprise knowledge bases; less aggressive auto-indexing
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: Very fast, low-latency completions; category pioneer and still excellent inline
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: Org policy management, SSO, audit logs, content exclusion, data residency, IP indemnification
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: 12,000 tokens (GPT-4)
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: Unlimited completions
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: VS Code, JetBrains, Neovim, Visual Studio, Sublime
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: Copilot (GPT-based, Good)
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: Limited to current + adjacent files
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: VS Code, JetBrains IDEs, Visual Studio, Neovim
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: Not available
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: 30 days (free tier limited)
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: October 2023 (~27 months old)
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: ~1,200,000
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: Yes (OpenAI servers)
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: Deep (PR, commits, issues)
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: 180 code completions
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: 15+ editors (VS Code, JetBrains, Vim, Neovim, etc.)
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: Suggestion-based only, no autonomous execution
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: OpenAI GPT-4 / Anthropic Claude
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: ~1200ms average completion
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: $10/month individual, $19/month business
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: ~5-10 visible files in editor
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: 5+ (VS Code, JetBrains, Visual Studio, Vim, Neovim)
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: No—suggestions only, manual edit required
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: 1 (IDE-native, like autocomplete)
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: No (cloud-only)
Average Response Time for Code Suggestion
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: 0.5-1 (inline suggestion)
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: 6 major platforms
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: Native PR reviews, CLI, GitHub.dev, Copilot X
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: Data exclusion available (enterprise only)
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: $252/year
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: $120 (monthly) or $100 (annual with 17% discount)
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: Up to 150 lines
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: 5 MB (as extension)
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: 27% of developers
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: 2-5 seconds per suggestion
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: 5 IDE integrations
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: 20-40% faster on routine tasks
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: 2 months free trial only
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: 30-day trial only
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: 20+ IDEs
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: 27 million
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: 5 years (2021)
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: Plugin only (requires VS Code/JetBrains)
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: Limited to referenced files
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: 5+ (VS Code, JetBrains suite, GitHub.com, etc.)
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: $10 or free with GitHub Pro
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: 80+ (Python, JavaScript, Java, C++, Go, Rust, etc.)
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: 8,000 tokens (~6,000 words)
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: 8+ (VS Code, JetBrains Suite, Vim, Visual Studio, etc.)
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: April 2024
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: 72% correct on HumanEval benchmark
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: 2-5 seconds (in-editor, no switching)
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: $10 (Pro) or $0 (Limited)
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: 0.5 minutes
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: 90+ languages
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: Integration with VS Code
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: 50-100ms per suggestion
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: Fixed $10 (Copilot Individual) or $19 (Copilot Pro)
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: Single file at a time
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: None: requires manual git commands outside Copilot
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: No: GitHub Copilot model is fixed and proprietary
Continue: N/A | GitHub Copilot: ~8,000 (estimated Copilot context)
How to choose between Continue and GitHub Copilot
Continue vs GitHub Copilot — Structured Comparison Data
Machine-readable comparison dataset for Continue vs GitHub Copilot. Contains 155 attribute comparisons, 5 FAQ pairs.
Continue vs GitHub Copilot — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for Continue vs GitHub Copilot.
Does Continue send my code to external servers?
By default, Continue can run entirely locally if you configure it with local models (via Ollama). However, if you choose cloud providers like Claude or GPT-4, your code snippets are sent to those providers' servers. You have full control over this choice.
Can I use Continue without paying anything?
Yes, Continue is completely free and open-source. You can use it with free tiers of certain providers (Claude's free tier, GPT-4 via Azure's free credits) or with fully local models like Llama 2 running on your machine.
Yes, GitHub Copilot completes code in 0.5-1 second on average due to optimized cloud infrastructure, while Continue averages 1-3 seconds depending on whether you're using local or cloud processing. For real-time coding workflows, Copilot's speed is noticeable.
Which tool has better code quality suggestions?
GitHub Copilot has specialized training on 250M+ GitHub repositories, making it exceptionally good at common patterns. Continue's quality depends on which provider you choose—Claude 3.5 Sonnet provides high-quality suggestions comparable to Copilot, while local models may be less accurate.
Yes, Continue supports JetBrains IDEs (IntelliJ, PyCharm, WebStorm, etc.) through a dedicated plugin. GitHub Copilot also supports JetBrains products, so both are viable options for JetBrains users.
How to Choose Between Continue and GitHub Copilot
Pricing Model: Continue has Free and open-source, while GitHub Copilot has $10/month or $100/year.
Deployment: Continue has Local processing with optional cloud, while GitHub Copilot has Cloud-based (GitHub servers).
Supported IDE Count: Continue has 6+ IDEs (VS Code, JetBrains, Vim, Cursor), while GitHub Copilot has 5 IDEs (VS Code, JetBrains, Neovim, Visual Studio, Copilot Chat).
AI Model Provider Options: Continue has 10+ providers (Claude, GPT-4, Ollama, Cohere, local models), while GitHub Copilot has GitHub's proprietary model (trained on GitHub code).
Context Window Size: Continue has Up to 200K tokens (Claude 3.5 Sonnet), while GitHub Copilot has 8K tokens average.
Code Completion Speed: Continue has 1-3 seconds (depends on local/cloud), while GitHub Copilot has 0.5-1 second.
Data Privacy: Continue has Code stays local (fully configurable), while GitHub Copilot has Sent to GitHub servers for processing.