TL;DR
- Stronger agent: Claude Code (Opus 4.x 80.8% SWE-bench Verified vs Copilot 72.5%)
- Cheaper entry: Copilot Pro at $10/mo vs Claude Code Pro at $20/mo
- Better value for heavy agent use: Claude Code Pro (Anthropic-direct pricing on Opus)
- Better IDE integration: Copilot (10+ IDEs vs Claude Code’s terminal-first model)
Benchmark comparison
| Benchmark | Claude Code (Opus 4.x) | GitHub Copilot |
|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | 80.8% | 72.5% |
| Multi-file refactoring | 30+ files autonomously | Limited |
| Context window | 200K default, up to 1M on Opus | Varies by model |
| Long-running autonomy | Hours | Limited |
Pricing structure
Claude Code Pro ($20/mo)
- Flat subscription
- Sonnet 4.x + limited Opus 4.x usage
- Overage via Anthropic API pricing
- Best for: serious coding agent work
Claude Code Max ($200/mo)
- 10x Pro pricing
- Heavy Opus 4.x usage
- 13x cheaper than this = GLM Pro tier
GitHub Copilot Pro ($10/mo)
- 300 premium requests/mo
- Premium-request currency powers Chat, Agent, code review, model selection
- Heavy sessions burn through quota fast
- Best for: cheap IDE integration with broad model access
GitHub Copilot Business ($19/user/mo)
- Same 300 premium requests
- Admin/audit controls
- Teams under 50
Recommendation
Pick Claude Code Pro if:
- You do long-running agent work
- You value Opus-grade benchmarks
- Terminal-first workflow fits
Pick Copilot Pro if:
- You want the cheapest entry to multi-model IDE coding
- You primarily use code completion + chat, not agent mode
- Premium-request budget fits your workload
Skip both if:
- You’re already paying for Hermes Portal credits (overlap is high)
- You primarily use Cline/Kilo/Roo — those work better with a gateway