DeepSeek
Our pickGitHub Copilot
Multi-model picker: GPT-6.1 Sol (Pro+ and up, added 2026-09-29), Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Pro and up, 2026-09-28), Claude Opus 5.5 (Pro+ and up, 2026-09-22), GPT-6 Sol (Pro+ and up, 2026-09-22), GPT-6 Luna (Pro and up, 2026-09-22), Grok 4.7 (all paid SKUs, 2026-09-21), Grok 4.6 (2026-08-14), Gemini 3.7 Flash (2026-08-13, retiring 10/19), MAI-Code-1.1-Flash (2026-08-11), Kimi K3 (2026-08-06), Claude Opus 5, GPT-6 Astra, Fable 5.1, Gemini 3.8 Flash and earlier models per the model policy; HydraFusion (research preview) orchestrates several of them. Gemini 3.5 Flash, Gemini 3.6 Flash, Kimi K2.7 Code and Claude Opus 4.7 were removed 2026-10-02; six more retire 10/19
Tier-list head-to-head. GitHub Copilot takes the A-tier slot — here's the breakdown.
Spec sheet
| DeepSeek | GitHub Copilot | |
|---|---|---|
| Tier | A-tier | A-tierwin |
| Overall score | 8.0 / 10 | 8.3 / 10win |
| Powered by | — | Multi-model picker: GPT-6.1 Sol (Pro+ and up, added 2026-09-29), Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Pro and up, 2026-09-28), Claude Opus 5.5 (Pro+ and up, 2026-09-22), GPT-6 Sol (Pro+ and up, 2026-09-22), GPT-6 Luna (Pro and up, 2026-09-22), Grok 4.7 (all paid SKUs, 2026-09-21), Grok 4.6 (2026-08-14), Gemini 3.7 Flash (2026-08-13, retiring 10/19), MAI-Code-1.1-Flash (2026-08-11), Kimi K3 (2026-08-06), Claude Opus 5, GPT-6 Astra, Fable 5.1, Gemini 3.8 Flash and earlier models per the model policy; HydraFusion (research preview) orchestrates several of them. Gemini 3.5 Flash, Gemini 3.6 Flash, Kimi K2.7 Code and Claude Opus 4.7 were removed 2026-10-02; six more retire 10/19 |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Starting price | $0 | $0 |
| Best for | Developers and teams who need strong reasoning and coding capabilities on a budget. | Teams already on GitHub who want the broadest frontier-model picker in any coding tool (GPT-6 Astra, Sol an… |
| Last reviewed | 2026-09-14 | 2026-10-02 |
Head-to-head
Rated 1-10 on the same rubric across all 130 tools we cover.
What you'll pay
Look past the headline number -- entry-tier limits drive most cost surprises.
Free tier available
Free tier available
DeepSeek V4-Pro (SWE-bench + Arena Elo third-party verified post-launch; knowledge rows are V3.x baseline pending V4 figures). V4.1-Flash (2026-09-10) vendor-only so far: GPQA Diamond 90.9, DeepSWE 74.2, Terminal-Bench 2.1 90.6 -- third-party verification pending benchmarks — GitHub Copilot has no published benchmarks
| Benchmark | Description | Score |
|---|---|---|
| MMLU | Knowledge across 57 subjects | 90.8% |
| MMLU-Pro | Harder multi-subject reasoning | 85% |
| GPQA Diamond | Graduate-level science questions | 79.9% |
| HumanEval | Python code generation | 91.5% |
| SWE-bench | Real GitHub issue fixing | 80.6% |
The decision
Use-case anchors and category strengths, side by side.
Developers and teams who need strong reasoning and coding capabilities on a budget. If you're building AI features and can't justify GPT-4 API costs, DeepSeek is the obvious first stop.
Visit DeepSeekTeams already on GitHub who want the broadest frontier-model picker in any coding tool (GPT-6 Astra, Sol and Luna, Claude Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5.5 and Fable 5.1, Gemini 3.8 Flash, Grok 4.7 as of 2026-09-28) with enterprise-managed defaults, agent-operation guardrails and usage analytics. Business/Enterprise signups reopened 2026-09-03; Free-tier users still get best-in-class inline completions.
Visit GitHub CopilotBottom line
GitHub Copilot edges out DeepSeek by 0.3 points (8.3 vs 8.0) -- a A-tier vs A-tier split that's narrow but real. Not a blowout; both belong on a shortlist. The score gap shows up most clearly in the categories that matter for GitHub Copilot's strengths, so if those categories are your priority, the lead translates.
Pricing-wise, both tools have a free tier (DeepSeek starts $0, GitHub Copilot starts $0), so you can test either without committing. Compare what each free tier actually unlocks -- usage caps, model access, and feature gates differ a lot more than the headline price suggests, especially as both vendors have tightened limits in 2026.
By use case: pick DeepSeek when developers and teams who need strong reasoning and coding capabilities on a budget. Pick GitHub Copilot when teams already on github who want the broadest frontier-model picker in any coding tool (gpt-6 astra, sol and luna, claude opus 5. The two tools aren't fighting for the same person -- they're aiming at adjacent jobs that occasionally overlap. If you're squarely in GitHub Copilot's lane, the tier-list ranking and the use-case fit point the same direction; if you're in DeepSeek's lane, the score gap matters less than the fit.
Bottom line: GitHub Copilot is the safer default for most readers, but DeepSeek is competitive enough that the tie-breaker is your specific workload, not the spec sheet.
Keep digging
Full DeepSeek review
Tier A · 8.0/10
Full GitHub Copilot review
Tier A · 8.3/10
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Built from our daily AI-tool sweep, last touched October 2, 2026. Honest tier-list reviews — no affiliate-link pieces disguised as advice. See the rubric or how we review.