A GitHub Copilot alternative for the agent work outside your editor

Keep Copilot for completions if you like them. Octomind is the open-source agent for the rest: it reads the repo, edits files, runs the tests and reports back, in your terminal or any CI runner, on the model you pick and billed by that provider.

curl -fsSL https://octomind.run/install.sh | bash
How to switch ↓

Verdict: stay with GitHub Copilot or switch to octomind

Stay with GitHub Copilot if

  • You want suggestions as you type. Copilot has inline completions and next edit suggestions, unlimited on paid plans. Octomind has no autocomplete.
  • You want the agent inside VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains, Eclipse or Xcode. Octomind has no IDE plugin.
  • You want to hand an issue to an agent on github.com and get a pull request back. The Copilot cloud agent does that on Pro, Pro+ and Max.
  • You want to approve each tool before it changes files or runs a command. Copilot CLI asks; octomind does not.

Switch to octomind if

  • You want your model bill to be the only bill. Since 1 June 2026, Copilot chat, CLI and agent use draws AI credits priced from tokens at API rates. The octomind binary has no plan and no credits: you pay your provider, or nothing with a local model.
  • You need source you can read, fork and ship in your own image. Octomind is Apache-2.0; the Copilot CLI license reserves all rights to GitHub.
  • Your agent runs in scripts and CI, on any git host, with a spend stop that exits with code 75 so the job can tell a budget stop from a failure.
  • You want multi-step pipelines in the same binary: TOML workflows run roles in sequence, in parallel or in a loop, and a second model checks the end state before a turn counts as done.

GitHub Copilot vs octomind

Checked
AspectGitHub Copilotoctomind
Price to startFree: 2,000 completions a month and auto model selection only. Pro $10 a month with 1,500 AI credits, Pro+ $39 with 7,000, Max $100 with 20,000. One credit is $0.01. Prices as of October 2026. docs.github.comThe binary is free under Apache-2.0. You pay your model provider per token, or nothing in API fees with a local model. Cargo.toml:6
What draws on the planSince 1 June 2026, chat, CLI and agent use spends AI credits based on input, output and cached tokens at each model’s API rate. When credits run out there is no fallback to a cheaper model. github.blogNothing sits between you and the provider. Tokens go on your provider account, and local: points at Ollama on localhost by default. doc/usage/04-providers.md:122
Completions as you typeInline suggestions and next edit suggestions in the editor. They do not spend AI credits on paid plans. docs.github.comNone. Octomind is an agent you hand tasks to, not an autocomplete. Run it next to Copilot if you want both. /docs/usage/12-editor-integration
EditorsVS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains, Eclipse, Xcode and Neovim. Agent mode works in all of them except Neovim. docs.github.comA plain line prompt in the terminal. Editors connect over the Agent Client Protocol (ACP); the docs show a Zed config. No IDE plugin. /docs/usage/12-editor-integration
Models you can useA curated menu from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, Microsoft and Moonshot. Bring your own key in VS Code, JetBrains, Xcode and the CLI. docs.github.comAny provider:model string with -m, or /model mid-session: anthropic:, openai:, deepseek:, openrouter:, local: and more. src/commands/run.rs:46
Agent that opens pull requestsThe cloud agent works in a cloud environment and opens a pull request. GitHub-hosted repositories only, one branch and one pull request per task, 59 minutes at most. docs.github.comNo hosted agent. octomind-action runs any role in your own GitHub Actions job and can post the answer as a PR comment. Outside GitHub, run the binary on any CI runner. /blog/octomind-action-pr-brief
Spend controlA dollar budget for usage past your included credits, with alerts at 75%, 90% and 100%. github.commax_request_spending_threshold stops a request in interactive and headless runs. A headless run that hits it exits with code 75. An in-flight call can still overshoot. src/session/chat/session/core.rs:182
Tools that change filesCopilot CLI asks before the first use of a tool that can modify or run files. --allow-all-tools or /yolo turns the prompts off. docs.github.comNever asks. Guards in .agents/guardrails.toml block the calls you name, and --sandbox limits writes on Linux and macOS. src/sandbox/mod.rs:15
Source codeCopilot CLI ships under a GitHub license: "All rights not expressly granted by this License are reserved." github.comApache-2.0. Read it, fork it, build it with cargo. Cargo.toml:6

An open model in octomind: 24 of 25 real pull requests solved

Copilot was not in this run, so there is no Copilot number here. On octobench, 25 tasks taken from pull requests merged in open-source projects and checked by their hidden tests, octomind ran the open model glm-5.2 and solved 24 for $63.43 in 3.6h. Claude Code on claude-opus-5 solved 23. Those are different agent-and-model pairs, so the run does not show that glm-5.2 matches claude-opus-5. It shows that an open model you can buy from several providers did real repository work in octomind. The glm-5.2 calls went through Ollama cloud with no prompt caching, so the dollar figure is a worst case. Every case and trace is public at a pinned commit.

Full octobench results and how to reproduce them →

How to switch from GitHub Copilot

  1. Install octomind and pick a model

    One script installs the binary to ~/.local/bin on macOS or Linux. Export a key for any provider you use. For a model on your own machine, use local: and no key.

    curl -fsSL https://octomind.run/install.sh | bash

export DEEPSEEK_API_KEY=sk-...        # or ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, OPENAI_API_KEY, OPENROUTER_API_KEY
cd ~/your/project
octomind run developer:general -m deepseek:deepseek-flash
# local model: octomind run developer:general -m local:qwen3-coder

  2. Bring your instructions and MCP servers

    Octomind reads AGENTS.md from the directory you start in, not .github/copilot-instructions.md. Move the file to AGENTS.md; Copilot CLI reads that name too. Each server in ~/.copilot/mcp-config.json becomes a [[mcp.servers]] block: "local" turns into stdio, "http" stays http.

    # git mv .github/copilot-instructions.md AGENTS.md

# ~/.local/share/octomind/config/mcp-copilot.toml
# was in ~/.copilot/mcp-config.json: "type": "local", "command": "npx", "args": [...]
[[mcp.servers]]
name = "playwright"
type = "stdio"
command = "npx"
args = ["@playwright/mcp@latest"]
timeout_seconds = 30
tools = []
auto_bind = ["developer:general"]

  3. Put it on your pull requests

    octomind-action runs any role in a GitHub Actions job with your provider key and can post the answer as a PR comment. max_cost is a spend stop, not a hard ceiling. The job runs on your runner, so on private repositories it uses your Actions minutes unless you use a self-hosted runner.

    # .github/workflows/octomind-review.yml
on: pull_request
permissions:
  contents: read
  pull-requests: write
jobs:
  review:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
      - uses: muvon/octomind-action@v2
        with:
          role: developer:general
          model: deepseek:deepseek-flash
          prompt: "Review the diff against main. Report real bugs only."
          max_cost: "1.00"
          comment: compact
        env:
          DEEPSEEK_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.DEEPSEEK_API_KEY }}

Other options worth a look

  • opencode

    An MIT terminal agent that can sign in with your GitHub Copilot subscription and also reaches 75+ providers and local models. It suits you if you want to keep paying for Copilot but leave its CLI.

  • Cursor

    An AI code editor whose Tab autocomplete suggests multi-line edits as you type. It suits you if completions are what you use Copilot for most.

  • Claude Code

    Anthropic’s coding agent for the terminal, IDE, desktop and browser, on Claude models only. It suits you if you already pay for a Claude plan.

Where GitHub Copilot is better

  • No autocomplete

    Octomind does not suggest code as you type and has no next edit suggestions. If completions are most of your Copilot use, keep Copilot for them and run octomind for delegated tasks. Read more →

  • No IDE plugin

    There is no VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains, Eclipse or Xcode extension. Octomind speaks the Agent Client Protocol, and the docs show a Zed setup. Read more →

  • No assign-an-issue agent on github.com

    Copilot takes an issue and comes back with a pull request from GitHub’s own cloud. With octomind you write the Actions workflow and pay for its runner and its tokens. Read more →

  • No approval prompts before tools run

    Tools run without asking. Policy lives in .agents/guardrails.toml as guards that block matching calls, and --sandbox limits writes on Linux and macOS. The sandbox is off by default and does nothing on Windows. Read more →

  • One instructions file

    Octomind reads AGENTS.md from the directory you start in. It does not read .github/copilot-instructions.md, CLAUDE.md or files in parent folders. Read more →

Questions

What is the best GitHub Copilot alternative?

It depends on what you use Copilot for. For completions in the editor, look at Cursor. For a terminal agent that keeps your Copilot subscription, opencode signs in with it. For an open-source agent on any model, billed only by your provider and built for scripts and CI, octomind.

Is there an open source GitHub Copilot alternative?

Yes. Octomind is Apache-2.0 and opencode is MIT. Copilot CLI is not open source: its license reserves all rights not expressly granted to GitHub.

Did GitHub Copilot move to usage-based billing?

Yes, on 1 June 2026. Plan prices stayed at $10 for Pro and $39 for Pro+, and each plan now includes AI credits at $0.01 each. Chat, CLI and agent use spends them by tokens at API rates; completions do not on paid plans. Past your credits you set a dollar budget or wait for the monthly reset.

Does octomind do code completion like Copilot?

No. Octomind has no autocomplete and no IDE plugin. It is an agent you give a task to in the terminal, over ACP or in CI. You can keep Copilot completions and run octomind for the delegated work.

Copilot CLI vs Claude Code: where does octomind fit?

Copilot CLI comes with every Copilot plan, Free included, and offers models from several vendors plus your own key. Claude Code runs Claude models only. Octomind is the open-source option of the three: any provider:model string, local models included, and a spend stop with its own exit code for CI.

Can I use GitHub Copilot and octomind together?

Yes. Keep Copilot in the editor and run octomind from the terminal or in GitHub Actions through octomind-action. Copilot CLI and octomind both read AGENTS.md. Do not point two agents at the same working tree at the same time.

More comparisons

All alternatives →

Reading

Try it on the job GitHub Copilot does for you now.

Apache-2.0 and any model. Install it, then follow the three steps above.

curl -fsSL https://octomind.run/install.sh | bash