The most-starred open-source alternatives to GitHub Copilot are Zed (91.9k GitHub stars), Cline (70.5k) and Tabby (33.9k). They are free to install; instead of a subscription you pay your model provider per token. Regular use, about 1,500 agent steps a month, costs roughly $74 on Claude Sonnet 5.5 or $9.25 on DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, against $10 to $100 a month for GitHub Copilot.
GitHub data updated October 18, 2026. Model prices from official pricing pages.
| Project | Runs in | Models | License | GitHub stars | Last commit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zed Zed Industries | Desktop editor | Any provider Local models | GPL-3.0 | 91.9k | October 18, 2026 |
| Cline Cline | VS Code, JetBrains, Terminal, SDK | Any provider Local models | Apache-2.0 | 70.5k | October 18, 2026 |
| Tabby TabbyML | Self-hosted server, IDE extensions | models you host on your own hardware Local models | Apache-2.0 + EE | 33.9k | June 30, 2026 |
| Kilo Code Kilo Code | VS Code, JetBrains, Terminal | Any provider | MIT | 27.7k | October 18, 2026 |
Open-source agents are free; you pay the model provider for every token the agent reads and writes. Estimated monthly API fees:
| Model on your API key | Light 300 steps/mo | Regular 1,500 steps/mo | Heavy 6,000 steps/mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Opus 5.5 | $28 | $140 | $562 |
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 | $15 | $74 | $298 |
| GPT-6.1 Sol | $14 | $70 | $281 |
| Gemini 3.8 Flash | $5.58 | $28 | $112 |
| DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | $1.85 | $9.25 | $37 |
| Claude Haiku 5.5 | $0.74 | $3.72 | $15 |
For comparison, GitHub Copilot: Pro $10/mo; Pro+ $39/mo; Max $100/mo.
Each agent step is assumed to send about 40,000 input tokens (70% read from the prompt cache) and return about 2,000 output tokens, as in our cost calculator’s coding-agent scenario. Light is about one short task a day, regular is several tasks every working day, heavy is agents running most of the day. Real usage varies with the size of your codebase and how each tool manages context, so treat these as orders of magnitude. A local model costs nothing per token but needs hardware that can run it.
Want a precise break-even for your own usage? Use the subscription vs API calculator.
Zed Industries · GPL-3.0 · 91.9k stars
A fast open-source code editor written in Rust by the creators of Atom and Tree-sitter, with a built-in agent panel and edit predictions.
Models: Your own API keys for Anthropic, OpenAI-compatible and other providers, gateways, local models, or an existing ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot subscription.
Runs in: Desktop editor.
Licensed mainly under GPL-3.0-or-later, with some Apache-2.0 components.
Cline · Apache-2.0 · 70.5k stars
An autonomous coding agent that runs as a VS Code extension, a JetBrains plugin, a CLI or an SDK, and asks before it edits files or runs commands.
Models: Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, AWS Bedrock, OpenRouter, the Vercel AI Gateway, any OpenAI-compatible API, and local models through Ollama or LM Studio.
Runs in: VS Code, JetBrains, Terminal, SDK.
TabbyML · Apache-2.0 + EE · 33.9k stars
A self-hosted AI coding assistant for code completion and chat, built as an on-premises alternative to GitHub Copilot.
Models: Models you host on your own hardware.
Runs in: Self-hosted server, IDE extensions.
Core code is Apache-2.0; enterprise features in the ee/ directory use a separate license.
No release since v0.32.0 in January 2026.
Kilo Code · MIT · 27.7k stars
An open-source coding agent for VS Code, JetBrains IDEs and the terminal. Through a Kilo account you pick from 500+ models at the provider’s own rate with no markup, or you bring your own API keys.
Models: 500+ models through a Kilo account, or your own provider API keys.
Runs in: VS Code, JetBrains, Terminal.
These projects still show up in searches for GitHub Copilot alternatives but have stopped development:
GitHub Copilot plans and prices: GitHub Copilot pricing. More alternatives: Claude Code, Cursor.