GitHub Copilot follows a traditional monthly subscription model starting at $10 per month, whereas Claude Code pricing is based on platform execution time at $0.05 per hour.
14-day free trial. No credit card required.
GitHub Copilot and Claude Code represent two distinct approaches to AI developer tool costs. Copilot operates on a fixed monthly subscription per user, offering tiers that scale based on AI credits. Claude Code functions through the Claude Platform, charging for active container execution time.
For procurement and finance leaders, the choice is between the predictable monthly overhead of GitHub’s seat-based model and the variable, consumption-based costs of Anthropic’s execution environment.
| GitHub Copilot | Claude Code | |
|---|---|---|
| Plan 1 | GitHub Copilot Pro: $10/mo | — |
| Plan 2 | GitHub Copilot Pro+: $39/mo | — |
| Plan 3 | GitHub Copilot Max: $100/mo | — |
14-day free trial. No credit card required.
| Plan | Price | Billing | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub Copilot — Pro | $10 | per month | Base credits price is $10 per month. The page also lists a 'Total GitHub AI Credits' cost of $15 per month, wh |
| GitHub Copilot — Pro+ | $39 | per month | Base credits price is $39 per month. The page also lists a 'Total GitHub AI Credits' cost of $70 per month, wh |
| GitHub Copilot — Max | $100 | per month | Base credits price is $100 per month. The page also lists a 'Total GitHub AI Credits' cost of $200 per month, |
| Plan / rate | Verified price | Unit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Platform — Code execution | $0.05 | per hour | Price per hour per container after free hours. |
Every price above was retrieved from the official vendor page. Plans without a published number are shown exactly as the vendor states them — never estimated.
14-day free trial. No credit card required.
GitHub Copilot uses a three-tier subscription structure. The base Pro plan starts at $10 per month, while higher-performance tiers like Pro+ and Max reach $39 and $100 per month, respectively. Each tier is associated with different AI Credit levels, which can increase the total monthly cost per user to as much as $200 for the Max plan.
Claude Code does not currently list a standard monthly seat price in the same manner as Copilot. Instead, it bills $0.05 per hour for code execution containers on the Claude Platform. This applies after any included free hours are used, making the total cost dependent on the duration of active development sessions.
Evaluating the return on these tools requires moving beyond sticker price to measure the delta in developer velocity. NetLift allows organizations to bridge the gap between AI consumption data and financial outcomes by comparing execution costs or seat fees against verified time saved. This ensures that a $100/month seat or a high-usage execution bill is generating a surplus in engineering capacity.
14-day free trial. No credit card required.
All pricing on this page comes from official vendor pages:
14-day free trial. No credit card required.
About the author
Paige Gilmore · Founder, NetLift
Paige Gilmore is the founder of NetLift, the AI Value Management platform that helps organisations measure the cost, savings and return of AI adoption.
Paige Gilmore on LinkedInGemini for Google Workspace offers lower entry-level pricing starting at $7 per seat, while ChatGPT Business is priced at a flat $25 per seat for teams of two or more.
Read ai-costsGemini for Google Workspace is the more budget-friendly entry point starting at $7 per seat, while Claude Team Standard requires a $20 per seat monthly investment on an annual contract.
Read ai-costsGoogle Workspace plans range from $7 to $22 per seat, while Microsoft 365 Copilot business options range from $18 to $38.40 per seat. Most organizations reach a break-even point when an employee saves between 6 and 30 minutes of work per month.
Read ai-costsDevin Teams requires a $120 monthly minimum entry point ($80 base fee plus $40 per seat), while Replit Agent is accessible via Replit Core starting at $20 per month. Devin is structured for coordinated engineering teams, whereas Replit offers tiered individual and professional plans.
Read ai-costsMicrosoft Copilot Analytics tracks seat usage within the M365 environment, while NetLift measures the actual financial return of AI spend by calculating time saved against staff costs. A Copilot seat typically breaks even with as little as 0.2 to 0.8 hours of saved time per month, depending on the plan and hourly rate.
Read