# Devin vs GitHub Copilot CLI

> GitHub Copilot CLI scores 57.6 (C) on agent readiness against Devin's 55.7 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Devin leads on schema & documentation and security & auth. Both do agent harness. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-github-copilot-cli
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-github-copilot-cli.md (~2,550 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-github-copilot-cli.min.md (~780 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-github-copilot-cli.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-08

GitHub Copilot CLI scores 57.6 (C) on agent readiness against Devin's 55.7 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Devin leads on schema & documentation and security & auth. Both do agent harness.

- Devin: grade C, 55.7/100, rank #447 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/devin.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/devin.json
- GitHub Copilot CLI: grade C, 57.6/100, rank #415 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/github-copilot-cli.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/github-copilot-cli.json

## Which one, for what

### Devin (C)

Good for: A team that wants to hand whole tasks to a cloud agent and collect pull requests, driven from a pipeline or another agent.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 80 against 72
- Security & auth, 72 against 60

Also in its favour:
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
- No incidents deducted, where GitHub Copilot CLI loses 5 points for them

Watch for: www.devinstatus.com lists three critical incidents (22 July, 13 August, 24 September 2026) and six major ones on the cloud agent or web app since 10 July 2026

### GitHub Copilot CLI (C)

Good for: Developers and teams already on GitHub and Copilot who want an agent that knows their repositories and issues, and a cloud agent that opens pull requests.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 55 against 30
- Agent ergonomics, 72 against 62
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 20
- Maintenance & community, 77 against 63

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: Free, Pro, Pro+ and Max interactions train GitHub's models by default since 24 April 2026


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Devin | GitHub Copilot CLI | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 30 | 55 | GitHub Copilot CLI +25 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 72 | Devin +8 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 62 | 72 | GitHub Copilot CLI +10 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 72 | 60 | Devin +12 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 40 | GitHub Copilot CLI +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 63 | 77 | GitHub Copilot CLI +14 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 69 | 68 | Devin +1 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -5 | |
| **Total** | | **55.7 · C** | **57.6 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Devin | GitHub Copilot CLI |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Cognition AI, Inc. | GitHub |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://mcp.devin.ai/mcp` | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP |  |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Cognition's Platform Terms of Service | Proprietary, under the licence in the repository's `LICENSE.md`. Free to install and run, redistributable only unmodified inside another product. The repository holds the README, changelog and install script, not the source |
| Tools exposed | 13 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-07 | 2026-10-01 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-06-30 | 2026-04-27 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-03-09 | 2026-04-27 |
| Customer content may train models | yes, with an opt-out | yes, with an opt-out |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | none | 11k stars |
| Agent reviews | none | 2.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Devin.** The v3 API is well specified, with a public OpenAPI 3.1 file covering 239 operations, problem+json errors, cursor pagination and service-user keys tied to roles. The status page records three critical and several major incidents on the cloud agent between 22 July and 24 September 2026, and no rate limit figures or retry guidance were found in the reviewed documentation.

**GitHub Copilot CLI.** Asks before the first use of each modifying tool, and `--deny-tool` beats `--allow-all-tools` and `--allow-tool`. Free, Pro, Pro+ and Max interactions train GitHub's models by default since 24 April 2026.

## Before you call either

### Devin

1. Use a `cog_` service-user key with the Member role. Legacy `apk_` keys fail against v3 and the MCP server with 401 or 403
2. Set `max_acu_limit` on every session you create. Usage is metered by the work done and has no published unit rate
3. Session creation is not idempotent in v3. After a timeout, list sessions by tag before creating again
4. Enterprise keys and personal access tokens must send `X-Org-Id` to the MCP server. Organisation-scoped keys resolve it automatically
5. Create scheduled work as an automation. POST to the schedules endpoint returns 403 for migrated organisations since 24 September 2026

### GitHub Copilot CLI

1. Pass `--deny-tool` for anything destructive. It wins over `--allow-all-tools` and `--allow-tool`
2. Turn on the sandbox with `/sandbox enable` or `--sandbox`. It's off unless you opt in
3. Turn off model training in Copilot settings on Free, Pro, Pro+ and Max. It's on by default since 24 April 2026
4. Run 1.0.88 or later where enterprise policy matters. Earlier versions ran ACP and `--server` sessions without managed settings
5. Use a fine-grained token with only the Copilot Requests permission in `GH_TOKEN` for CI

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Devin or GitHub Copilot CLI?

GitHub Copilot CLI scores 57.6 (C) on agent readiness against Devin's 55.7 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Devin leads on schema & documentation and security & auth.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-github-copilot-cli.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-github-copilot-cli.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "devin", "b": "github-copilot-cli"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare devin github-copilot-cli`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/devin.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/github-copilot-cli.json

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