3 Free & Open Source Alternatives to GitHub Copilot (2026)

Compare 3 free and open-source alternatives to GitHub Copilot: Continue, Sourcegraph Cody, and Tabby. Pros, cons, pricing, and screenshots tested 2026.

GitHub Copilot

Freemium ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 4.0

GitHub Copilot is an AI-powered code completion tool that suggests whole lines and blocks of code inside your editor, trained on public code repositories and powered by OpenAI models.

Freemium
3 free options
AI Tools
4 / 5
Why people look for alternatives GitHub Copilot has a free tier with limitations. Many users seek fully free or open-source alternatives that offer the same capabilities without paywalled features or usage caps.
GitHub Copilot homepage screenshot Visit GitHub Copilot →

Quick Comparison

Tool Pricing Best for Rating
Continue
Free & Open Source — ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 4.0
Sourcegraph Cody
Freemium — ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 4.0
Tabby
Free & Open Source — ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 4.0

Detailed Reviews

Continue

An open-source AI coding assistant for VS Code and JetBrains that connects to any LLM via your own API key or a local model.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 4.0
Free & Open Source

3 screenshots — click to enlarge

Continue IDE Screenshot 1
Continue Pricing Plans Screenshot 2

✓ Pros

  • Fully open source under Apache 2.0 — inspect, modify, and self-host freely
  • Works with any LLM including local models via Ollama for complete privacy

✕ Cons

  • Requires an API key or a local LLM setup — no out-of-the-box free model access
  • More setup involved than cloud-first alternatives like Copilot or Cursor

Sourcegraph Cody

An AI coding assistant by Sourcegraph with deep codebase context, available as an IDE extension for VS Code and JetBrains.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 4.0
Freemium

Free tier with a Sourcegraph.com account; Pro at $9/month for stronger models and higher rate limits.

2 screenshots — click to enlarge

Sourcegraph Cody homepage screenshot Screenshot 1
Sourcegraph Cody pricing screenshot Screenshot 2

✓ Pros

  • Free tier includes access to multiple models including Claude and GPT-4o
  • Deep codebase understanding via Sourcegraph's code search and indexing integration

✕ Cons

  • Not open source for the hosted service; self-hosted Enterprise setup is complex
  • Free tier rate limits are stricter than some competing tools

Tabby

A self-hosted, open-source AI coding assistant with IDE plugins for VS Code and JetBrains, plus an optional Tabby Cloud hosted tier.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 4.0
Free & Open Source

Self-hosting is entirely free and open source; Tabby Cloud offers a free tier and paid plans for teams.

3 screenshots — click to enlarge

Tabby Screenshot 1
Tab Screenshot 2

✓ Pros

  • Fully self-hostable — your code never leaves your own infrastructure
  • Apache 2.0 licence — fully open for inspection, modification, and contribution

✕ Cons

  • Self-hosting requires a server with a GPU for best completion performance
  • Plugin ecosystem and UI polish lag behind commercial alternatives like Copilot

Some links are affiliate. We never accept payment for inclusion or ranking.