Home / Guides / Choosing Your AI Tools

Choosing Your AI Tools

Updated June 2026, after Microsoft reworked GitHub Copilot's pricing into a usage-based model and paused new Copilot Pro and Student sign-ups.

This course uses AI tools for coding. Your options range from $0 to a small monthly cost, and you can switch at any time.

Pricing note: AI tool pricing and student programs change fast. This was accurate as of June 2026, just after GitHub moved Copilot to usage-based billing and paused new Copilot Pro and Student sign-ups. Always check the provider's own website before paying for anything, and tell the instructor if something here looks outdated.

First: apply for GitHub Student Developer Pack

Apply for the GitHub Student Developer Pack. It is free, takes about 5 minutes, and unlocks professional developer tools at no cost, including JetBrains IDEs, cloud credits, free domains, and more. See the full list of benefits on GitHub's site.

The Pack used to include a free upgrade to Copilot Pro, but GitHub paused new Copilot Pro and Student sign-ups in April 2026 while it reworks billing, with no firm reopening date. So do not count on free Copilot Pro right now. The good news: Copilot Free is enough for this course, and the rest of the Pack is still worth claiming. Apply in Week 1 anyway.

What is free no matter what

Code completions stay free in Copilot Free (about 2,000 a month), and they do not consume the new AI credits. This is the gray "ghost text" you accept with Tab, and it covers a large part of everyday coding.

What is now limited is AI chat and agent mode: Copilot Free includes only a small monthly allowance of these, and heavy use runs it out. The tiers below are about how you get more agent mode once that free allowance is not enough.

Tier 0: fully free ($0)

Use GitHub Copilot Free in VS Code plus GitHub Models with a Personal Access Token. Copilot gives you free completions and a small chat and agent allowance; GitHub Models gives free, rate-limited API access for LLM calls in your own projects. Check GitHub's pricing page for current limits.

This covers all assignments through the final project. The catch is the small agent allowance. When you want more, move to Tier 1.

Tier 1: basic investment (~$5)

Add OpenRouter on top of Copilot Free. Deposit $5, add your OpenRouter key to VS Code through the Manage Language Models view, and set a budget model as your default. Your own key bills through OpenRouter directly and does not touch Copilot's credits, so it sidesteps the new GitHub pricing entirely. It works in chat and agent mode, but not for inline completions, which always use Copilot's built-in models and stay free.

Use DeepSeek V4 Flash as your default. It is built for coding assistants and agent work, handles everyday HTML, CSS, and JavaScript easily, and is extremely cheap. DeepSeek V4 Pro costs about 4x more and is only worth it for unusually complex problems. The cheapest good model changes every few months, so glance at OpenRouter's coding rankings now and then rather than assuming.

Four rules so you do not burn through your $5:

  1. Set the default to a cheap model (DeepSeek V4 Flash). Do not leave an expensive model selected.
  2. Load only $5 and turn off auto top-up on OpenRouter, so a mistake cannot run up a bill.
  3. Completions stay on Copilot and remain free. Only chat and agent use your OpenRouter key.
  4. Check that agent mode is using your model, not a Copilot premium request, which would spend GitHub credits instead.

Want a frontier model? You can point OpenRouter at Claude Opus 4.8 or GPT-5.5, the current top coders, but they are dramatically more expensive. The same $5 that lasts a whole semester on DeepSeek Flash can vanish in a few sessions on Opus. Treat AI compute as a real resource, and reach for the expensive model only when the cheap one genuinely cannot do the job.

Tier 2: use a subscription you already have (~$20 per month)

If you already pay for Claude Pro or Max or ChatGPT Plus or Pro, you already have a strong agent and do not need OpenRouter. Both bundle their coding agent into the subscription and run inside VS Code:

  • Claude subscription: Claude Code (VS Code extension), included with Pro and Max
  • ChatGPT subscription: Codex (VS Code extension), included with Plus and up

Usage is rate-limited rather than metered, so it is hard to run up a surprise bill. This is the simplest path if you are already subscribed.

If you are not subscribed, you do not need to start for this course. Tier 0 plus Tier 1 covers everything. Subscribe only if you are a heavy user or want a top model day to day. Check for student discounts first, and cancel after the semester if you stop using it.

Financial assistance

If any of these costs are a barrier, message the instructor at any point during the semester. Students who genuinely need it can receive a course-provided OpenRouter key capped at a small budget. This is normal and confidential. Most students find the $5 of Tier 1 affordable, so this is reserved for real need.

How to decide

Your situation Recommended tier
Want $0 cost, light agent use Tier 0
Want real agent use on a budget Tier 1 (OpenRouter + DeepSeek Flash)
Already pay for Claude or ChatGPT Tier 2 (Claude Code or Codex in VS Code)
Not sure yet Start at Tier 0, move up when you feel the limits

Moving from Tier 0 to Tier 1 takes about 5 minutes.

Next steps

  1. Apply for the GitHub Student Developer Pack now
  2. Complete the VS Code setup in Week 1, including Copilot activation
  3. If choosing Tier 1, create your OpenRouter account (setup covered in class)
  4. Submit a screenshot of your VS Code model picker by end of Week 1 (all tiers)

Last updated: Friday, 6/5/2026