SupportGPT

    SupportGPT Field Guide, No. 01

    Copilot Alternatives Generator: Cast Your Second Seat

    Write a brief, tick your must-haves, get a ranked shortlist.

    0/1200

    Use case
    Environment
    Budget
    Privacy
    Priority
    Cast my co-pilot

    Brief up to 1,200 chars, or chips only. Nothing leaves your browser unless you press Refine.

    Your crew dossiers

    Dataset verified 2025-06

    Seat 2A: assigned

    Captain's choice

    Cursor

    90/100

    Cursor fits your brief best: whole-codebase edits inside an ai-first editor, scored for code.

    Pricing (verified 2025-06)
    Free tier, Pro about $20/mo
    IDE support (verified 2025-06)
    Its own VS Code based editor
    Privacy stance (verified 2025-06)
    Privacy mode available; cloud processing
    Best for (verified 2025-06)
    Whole-codebase edits inside an AI-first editor

    Rank 2 · Crew candidate

    Windsurf

    86/100
    Pricing
    Free tier, Pro about $15/mo (2025-06)
    IDE support
    Own editor plus JetBrains and VS Code plugins (2025-06)

    Rank 3 · Crew candidate

    Amazon Q Developer

    77/100
    Pricing
    Free tier, Pro about $19/user/mo (2025-06)
    IDE support
    VS Code, JetBrains, CLI, AWS console (2025-06)

    Rank 4 · Crew candidate

    Claude

    77/100
    Pricing
    Free tier, Pro about $20/mo (2025-06)
    IDE support
    Browser, apps, terminal agent, editor plugins (2025-06)

    Refine with SupportGPT

    Optional. An AI model reads your brief and your top six candidates and explains the best three, plus tips for leaving Copilot. Your local ranking stays visible.

    Loading refine

    How it works

    01Write your brief

    Describe your stack, team size and what Copilot gets wrong today. A few lines are enough, and you can skip it and use only the chips.

    02Set your must-haves

    Pick one chip per row for use case, environment, budget, privacy and priority. Budget and privacy act as hard filters, the others change the score.

    03Read the crew dossiers

    Review the captain's choice and ranks two to four with dated facts, then copy the shortlist or download it as a Markdown file.

    The long read

    Why teams leave the first seat

    The best co-pilot is rarely the most famous one. It is the one that fits your editor, your budget and your data rules.

    Teams switch for three reasons: price per seat once headcount grows, data rules that forbid sending code to a cloud, and editors that the default tool supports poorly. The chart places each option by price and data control, with your top picks highlighted.

    $0$10$20$30$40Data control (editorial rating, illustrative) →$/seat/moCursorWindsurfAmazon Q DeveloperClaude
    Fig. 1. Price vs. data control. Prices as of 2025-06; SupportGPT and open-source tools plotted at illustrative positions.

    What it costs per year

    • Continue $0/mo, 2025-06$0/yr
    • Aider $0/mo, 2025-06$0/yr
    • Sourcegraph Cody $9/mo, 2025-06$1,080/yr
    • JetBrains AI Assistant $10/mo, 2025-06$1,200/yr
    • Supermaven $10/mo, 2025-06$1,200/yr
    • Windsurf $15/mo, 2025-06$1,800/yr
    • Amazon Q Developer $19/mo, 2025-06$2,280/yr
    • Gemini Code Assist $19/mo, 2025-06$2,280/yr
    • Cursor $20/mo, 2025-06$2,400/yr
    • ChatGPT $20/mo, 2025-06$2,400/yr
    • Claude $20/mo, 2025-06$2,400/yr
    • Perplexity $20/mo, 2025-06$2,400/yr
    • Tabnine $39/mo, 2025-06$4,680/yr

    Seats x monthly list price x 12. Excludes taxes, discounts and usage fees.

    Letters to the editor

    Is this list sponsored?

    Read the answer
    No. Ranking is computed in your browser from a fixed dataset and your chips. SupportGPT is one of the candidates and only ranks high when you ask for customer support, not when you ask for code.

    How current is the pricing?

    Read the answer
    Prices are list prices recorded in 2025-06 and marked with that date. Vendors change plans often, so confirm on the vendor site before buying.

    Which alternatives can be self-hosted?

    Read the answer
    In this dataset: Continue and Aider run with local models, and Tabnine, Sourcegraph Cody and Windsurf offer private or self-hosted options on enterprise plans. Select the Self-host chip to filter.

    Can I use several co-pilots at once?

    Read the answer
    Yes. Many developers pair an in-editor autocomplete tool with a chat assistant for writing or research. Rank 2 to 4 in your shortlist are good candidates for a second seat.

    Is my brief stored?

    Read the answer
    No. The brief and chips stay in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere unless you press Refine, which sends the brief and the top six candidates to an AI model for one request.

    Further reading

    Need a co-pilot for your support desk, not just your code?

    Try SupportGPT free