Changes to model selection for Free and Student plans

Copilot Free and Student plans will now use Copilot auto model selection as the default and only model selection experience. We've been doing a lot of work on the Auto model picker and many of us internally now use it by default. This is because it dynamically selects the best model for each task, removing the need for manual choice each time. This also helps reduce the token consumption giving you more usage of Copilot.

Auto provides access to models across multiple model families, subject to plan restrictions. For more information, see our documentation on supported models in auto mode.

As part of this simplification, we are also retiring the (Preview) label from Microsoft-released models. With Copilot auto model selection managing model routing and continuous improvements happening behind the scenes, these labels are no longer needed to guide user decisions.

[garden-yardripper]

There's zero benefit to the student developer pack anymore. Great job guys.

[OlinB]

It's the last nail in the coffin

[VikramKumavat-04]

yahh,right

[np4abdou1]

whats the point just say, copilot isnt available to students or free users anymore.

[izak-sera]

what an insult to every student

[ROB0520]

cant even use copilot to generate a commit message thanks to this lol, might as well remove the button for it

[edenchazard]

Honestly at this point, just remove Free and Student because this change means they go from mostly useless to completely useless. Like, what is the point offering this when it's unusable? What can students actually learn with it?

[iayoung85]

i don't know.. i'm getting plenty done still with github copilot free.. i think forcing auto on us is a strict downgrade.. but i guess i can't complain. Auto still usually takes me to raptor so it's fine.. though i was really loving the MAI model

[heyomar]

Hey Copilot,

What is it called when a company maliciously downgrades the features and services for a tier of users?

• "Benefit clawback" — they gave something, then quietly took it back
• "Tiered enshittification" — degrading a free tier to push toward paid
• "Bait-and-switch" — students enrolled expecting Pro, got a lesser plan

GitHub's own framing was "adjustments to ensure sustainable, long-term access" — which is the standard corporate euphemism for a feature cut.

Spot on Copilot!

[donnybeelo]

Was using Copilot Student to generate commit messages on Zed, so now my student subscription is only good for text completion, and even that might disappear. I guess this was inevitable, thanks Microsoft.

[yankawai]

So the Student Pack is now basically “Auto picks for you.” If the main advantage over Free keeps shrinking, what exactly is the value proposition for students now?

[Ste1io]

I'm not a student, and not on the student plan, but I gotta say that this was one of the most insulting, demeaning, shit-in-your-face announcements I've ever seen. Not all students are idiots, and even an idiot would see through the bullshit. "Here's a downgrade, because the system can decide better than you, you don't need the extra options, enjoy and your welcome."

Here's an idea: humans prefer honesty, so maybe just be honest that your poor business decisions coupled with the outrageous costs now associated with your sliced bread have you in a position where it's no longer viable, and you have to make these changes. People will be upset, but at least they won't despise you.

[GhostepX]

This means the free version and student version can only choose the auto model, so what's the difference compared to getting rid of these two free plans?

[Kn0ax]

just remove the copilot from free and student plans at this point.

its literally just a bad pr for you.

[myoinbong]

I understand the Free/Student plan change to Auto model selection, but I am seeing a separate issue in VS Code Agent UI.

For my Student plan account, the Agent UI shows "No models available" and does not even show Auto. Prompt submission does nothing.

Copilot itself is authenticated and working:

• token sku: free_educational_quota
• model metadata is fetched successfully
• gpt-4o-mini requests succeed internally

Runtime Status shows:
TypeError: e is not iterable
triggered by onChatParticipant:github.copilot.editsAgent

Environment:
VS Code 1.126.0
Copilot Chat 0.54.0
Windows + WSL Ubuntu

So this does not look like just the expected removal of manual model selection. It looks like the Agent UI model list initialization is failing.

[myoinbong]

Just sign out of your github account in vscode, restart and sign in again. It should work

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, I already tried signing out, restarting VS Code, and signing in again. I also reloaded the window and rebooted my computer, but the issue still persists.
Copilot authentication works correctly and model metadata is fetched successfully, but the Agent UI still shows "No models available".

[24f3003098]

Maybe uninstalling github copilot fully and installing it again will help?

[myoinbong]

Maybe uninstalling github copilot fully and installing it again will help?

Tried reinstalling — did not help, as expected.

Just to clarify for anyone finding this thread later: reinstalling (or re-authenticating) does not resolve this issue. The problem is not a local installation state issue.

As shown in the original report, authentication is working correctly, model metadata is fetched successfully, and internal API requests succeed. The error (TypeError: e is not iterable in onChatParticipant:github.copilot.editsAgent) points to a bug in the Agent UI's model list initialization logic — likely triggered by a response format change on GitHub's side. A reinstall won't change that.

This issue appears to be on GitHub's end. Still unresolved on my side.

[yassbeno]

Lol it does not even "autopick" a model correctly, attach an image to the prompt and it would still use a model without vision capabilities. Yikes

[iayoung85]

Which model doesn't have vision capabilities and exactly what do you mean by vision? Are you saying some models can't extract/read the text from a screen shot? Or are we talking about something more complex like telling difference between a dog and a cat? Thanks

[yassbeno]

Yes, there are models that only understands text.

MAI‑Code‑1‑Flash for example can't handle images.

[charlzdotdev]

Gooodd job guys, the next update would be that there's no models or auto mode available to students.
Cheers lol

[Ste1io]

IntelliSense will be the next feature to go. Mark my words. 😅

[harshil21]

I'm not mad because of the downgrade, I saw that coming. I'm mad because you're blatantly lying and claiming that Auto is the best and thus we can remove your choice to pick a model. This is a business decision so you can use the cheaper less intelligent models.

[waylonwh]

I understand that using the model comes at a cost to you, and Copilot for students is free. But having the freedom of choice taken away, and being lied to about the real reason, is just insulting.

[yamak493]

GitHub Copilot sparked my interest in programming. Thank you so much.
Given that AI computing resources are limited, I think this change is understandable. It was simply too amazing to be offered for free.

[YuanPeixi]

Worst Message that I Received

First of all, I’d like to thank GitHub for providing free AI access to students.

However, I am consistently frustrated by being automatically routed to lower-tier models during complex tasks. Continuous low-quality outputs don't save resources—they just waste our time. I would much prefer a limited number of high-quality interactions with the advanced model over endless, unproductive retries with a downgraded one.

To be honest, this constant downgrading has eroded my trust, making me hesitate to upgrade to Github Copilot Pro. I sincerely hope you’ll consider giving users more control over model selection.

[VikramKumavat-04]

If you're using the GitHub Student Developer Pack, you'll now be limited to Auto model selection inside GitHub Copilot Chat instead of selecting a specific model yourself.

[SoFarSoGoodya]

Thank you for igniting my first interest in programming and giving me my first chance to experience full vibe coding process. But now, I think it's time to deprecate this almost useless copilot. Say goodbye.

[np4abdou1]

i think i will finaly code stuff my self

[iayoung85]

It's more rewarding!

[eleino]

Please reconsider this decision. With the auto selection, if unlucky the query is routed to an expensive model such as 5.3-codex, which drains upwards of 6 credits for a simple question. The highest I saw was almost 30 credits for one question, 1/7 of the total usage available per month on the student plan. There is no way to anticipate the costs of a question without being able to select the model ourselves.

[muhammad-essa-arijo]

So students lose Claude Sonnet/Opus and GPT-5, get forced into 'Auto' mode, and you call this an upgrade? Auto doesn't choose the best—it chooses the cheapest. This isn't helping students, it's forcing us to pay. Shameful, GitHub.

[Richardv10]

I wouldn't mind if it worked at all, defaults to Fable 5 and fails straight away. Tried deleting all my workspace configs and altering the JSON, nothing works at all. I only want a few file path fixes FFS.

[aarushlohit]

So, Github copilot is just an auto completion tool now ,same i used before...i knew Github copilot can do agentic tasks

[aydryun]

is microsoft ever shammed about what they do ?

[Naifarer]

Great feature, now instead of being able to choose a suitable model for the job I can see it fail over and over again thanks copilot.