Head to head · Coding · updated Oct 25, 2026
Continue vs GitHub Copilot
Continue scores 82 to GitHub Copilot's 51 on public evidence for AI code editor, and they rank #2 and #4 there. Both are free to start. Numbers below are the same public signals the ranking uses, recomputed nightly — nothing here is sponsored.
Continue
Open-source AI code assistant extension that lets you wire any model into VS Code or JetBrains.
+ Works with local Ollama models or any API, with fully customisable config.
− Setup is more fiddly than Copilot and autocomplete quality depends entirely on the model you choose.
GitHub Copilot
AI pair programmer in your IDE and on GitHub, with completions, chat, code review, and a cloud coding agent.
+ Deepest GitHub integration: assign an issue to Copilot and it opens a PR.
− Completions and agent lag behind Cursor and Claude Code in quality despite more models being offered.
Side by side
public evidence| Continue | GitHub Copilot | |
|---|---|---|
| Evidence score / 100 | 82 | 51 |
| GitHub stars | 36,315 | closed source |
| Hacker News stories, 30d | 49 | 11 |
| Release-feed mentions, 30d | 8 | 9 |
| Last activity | 0 days ago | 1 days ago |
| Pricing | Open source · Free; optional hosted plans | Free tier; Pro $10/mo; Pro+ $39/mo |
| Platforms | vscode-extension, jetbrains-plugin, cli | vscode-extension, jetbrains-plugin, cli, web |
| Maker | Continue | GitHub (Microsoft) |
Which one?
Pick Continue if
- you want the stronger public evidence (82 vs 51)
- you want open source — self-host it, read it, fork it
- a bigger GitHub community matters (36,315 vs 0 stars)
Best for developers who want to self-host or mix models.
Pick GitHub Copilot if
- you need it on web
Best for teams already standardised on GitHub and VS Code.