Copilot Now Lives Inside Xcode, and Free Users Get the Same Cap
A public preview that quietly answers the question every Xcode user asks first: does the free tier work here, or is this another paid-only integration.
GitHub Copilot is now available inside Xcode's built-in coding assistant, in public preview from 4 November 2026, and GitHub states that all Copilot plans are supported. It requires Xcode 27.3 beta and macOS Tahoe 26.6 or later, and it is set up under Xcode > Settings > Intelligence. The existing GitHub Copilot for Xcode extension remains a separate, still-supported option.1
"All plans" is the phrase worth slowing down for. Most IDE integrations in this market launch paid-only and backfill free access months later. This one arrives with the free tier enabled on day one, which moves the interesting question from whether free works to what free actually runs out of.2
What the free plan gets you in Xcode
| Copilot Free | Copilot Pro | Copilot Pro+ | Copilot Max | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price per month | $0 | $10 | $39 | $100 |
| Inline completions | 2,000 per month | Included | Included | Included |
| Model choice | Auto selection only | Selection of models | Premium models | Priority premium access |
| Monthly AI credits | Allowance, unpublished | 1,500 | 7,000 | 20,000 |
| Agent mode and cloud | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| MCP support | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Prices measured on 27 October 2026. Vendor plan terms, allowances and prices change without notice, so treat every figure on this page as a dated snapshot rather than a permanent fact. Where a number here differs from the vendor's own pricing page, the vendor's page is correct and the figure above is simply older than it.
Two of those rows decide whether free is usable for a working day.
The first is 2,000 completions a month. That is a real number rather than a teaser, and for a developer writing code a few hours a day it usually lasts a few weeks. When it runs out, the suggestions stop for the rest of the billing period; the account does not get throttled, it simply reaches the end of its allowance.
The second is auto model selection. On Copilot Free and Copilot Student, model access is only available through auto selection, so there is no picker and no way to request a specific model. In an IDE that is less of a limitation than it sounds, because you were not choosing per-completion anyway. It matters when a completion returns something wrong and you want to switch to a stronger model to retry the same problem. That option is not on the free tier.
The two Copilot options in Xcode are not the same thing
GitHub is explicit that the native integration and the existing GitHub Copilot for Xcode extension are separate options, and that both remain available. That is a more consequential sentence than it looks, because the two paths will behave differently.
The extension predates Xcode's coding assistant API and brings its own UI, its own chat surface and its own update cadence. The native integration sits inside Apple's assistant, which means Apple controls the interface and GitHub controls the model behind it. When Apple changes the assistant in a future Xcode release, the native path moves with it and the extension does not.
For anyone evaluating this today, the practical difference is that the native integration is a public preview on a beta Xcode, while the extension is a shipping product on stable Xcode. If you are on a release build of Xcode 26, none of this has reached you yet.
What you need before it works
The prerequisites are specific and there are three of them. Xcode 27.3 beta has to be installed from Apple's developer downloads. The Mac needs macOS Tahoe 26.6 or newer. And Copilot has to be set up through Xcode > Settings > Intelligence rather than through the extension's own preferences pane.
A fourth condition sits underneath all of these: Copilot Free is only available to individual developers who do not already have Copilot access through an organisation or enterprise. If your employer provides Copilot, you are on whatever plan they chose and the free-tier arithmetic above does not apply to you.
When the free plan stops being enough
Two features are missing on Free that change what the IDE can do rather than merely how fast it does it.
Agent mode and Copilot in the cloud are unavailable, so the assistant writes suggestions and answers questions but cannot take a task and run with it across files. Model Context Protocol support is listed as unavailable on Free too, which rules out connecting it to external tooling in the way the paid tiers allow.
Copilot code review on Free is limited to "Review selection" in VS Code, which is worth stating plainly because it means the review feature people most associate with Copilot is not what the free tier provides inside an IDE.
None of that makes the free tier a demo. Two thousand completions in a real Xcode project is genuine assistance, and it costs nothing to try. It just means the free plan is an autocomplete subscription with a chat window attached, while $10 a month buys the version that can act on its own.
Why this lands in Xcode at all
Apple shipped its own coding assistant into Xcode and then let a competitor plug into it. That is the same pattern the rest of the tooling market has settled into this quarter: the editor becomes the surface, and model vendors compete to sit underneath it.
It is the same shape as Copilot Fusion arriving on the free plan without its effort levels on 28 October. The capability ships everywhere; the controls that make it useful get tiered. Here, the integration ships on every plan and the model picker does not.
For a developer deciding what to install this week, the honest summary is that Xcode 27.3 beta plus Copilot Free is a free way to find out whether you want AI completions in your Apple development workflow at all, and $10 is what it costs to keep them once the 2,000 run out.
Frequently asked questions
Does Copilot work in Xcode for free?
Yes. GitHub says all Copilot plans are supported in Xcode's coding assistant, including Copilot Free, which allows 2,000 inline completions a month.
What version of Xcode do I need?
Xcode 27.3 beta, running on macOS Tahoe 26.6 or later.
Where do I turn it on?
Xcode > Settings > Intelligence, then set up GitHub Copilot in the coding assistant.
Is this the same as the GitHub Copilot for Xcode extension?
No. GitHub describes them as separate options, and the extension remains available alongside the native integration.
Can I choose a model on the free plan?
No. Copilot Free and Copilot Student have model access through auto selection only.
Does the free plan include agent mode?
No. Agent mode, Copilot in the cloud and MCP support are not available on Copilot Free.
The 4 November 2026 public preview, the Xcode 27.3 beta and macOS Tahoe 26.6 requirements, the Settings > Intelligence setup path and the statement that all plans are supported verified in GitHub's changelog entry. Completions, model access, agent, MCP and code review availability by plan from GitHub's Copilot plans documentation, both read on 5 November 2026.
Sources
- GitHub Changelog: Copilot in Xcode coding assistant, 4 November 2026: github.blog/changelog/2026-11-04-github-copilot-is-now-available-in-xcodes-coding-assistant. Used for: The 4 November 2026 public preview, Xcode 27.3 beta and macOS Tahoe 26.6 requirements, the Settings > Intelligence path and the all-plans statement.
- GitHub Docs: Plans for GitHub Copilot: docs.github.com/en/copilot/get-started/plans. Used for: Completions, model access, agent mode, MCP, code review and cloud availability by plan, plus Copilot Free eligibility.
All sources are the vendor's own plan or documentation pages, checked on 27 October 2026. Plan terms change without notice, so confirm current limits before you rely on them.
