Open-source alternative
Replace GitHub Copilot with Continue + LiteLLM
The best open-source alternative to GitHub Copilot is Continue or LiteLLM, self-hosted on Railway. IDE autocomplete and chat over your models. GitHub Copilot without the seat.
Estimated save $1,200 a year.
Open the stack Deploy on Railway
How GitHub Copilot compares
| GitHub Copilot | Continue + LiteLLM | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per-seat GitHub AI Credits | Open-source or fair-code license; you pay the host |
| Hosting | Vendor cloud | Self-hosted on Railway or any VPS |
| Rough monthly cost | $10/mo Pro; $39/mo Pro+; $100/mo Max source | Hosting only — no SaaS seat meter in this repo |
- Continue
Open-source IDE Copilot (VS Code, JetBrains)
- LiteLLM
Unified proxy over OpenAI, Anthropic, local models
FAQ
- Is it free?
- The Continue + LiteLLM licenses are open source or fair-code. You still pay hosting (Railway or any VPS) and any APIs the stack calls. There is no GitHub Copilot seat or task bill on this path.
- Can I migrate from GitHub Copilot?
- Yes. Start with the workflows or data you actually use, then cut over. The Continue + LiteLLM stack page has the agent prompt and the cost table; most teams rebuild the slice that matters and leave old GitHub Copilot links until they expire.
- How do I deploy it?
- Open the Continue + LiteLLM stack, copy the agent prompt, and deploy on Railway (one service, PORT, and a volume when the app needs disk). Continue runs in the editor. LiteLLM is the Railway piece (already a c17 stack). Point Continue at the LiteLLM OpenAI-compatible URL.
- What does this replace?
- GitHub Copilot. The published small-team estimate on this stack is $1,200 a year.
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