Cheap alternative to GitHub Copilot without limits

GitHub Copilot operates on a subscription model rather than a usage-based one. The base rates are Copilot Pro at $10/month and Copilot Business at $19/month per seat. For a team of ten people, this is already $190 a month as a fixed expense that does not depend on actual workload.

The main limitation is not the subscription fee itself, but the access structure to the models. Copilot gives unlimited basic code completion, but requests to premium models (powerful versions of GPT and Claude, reasoning modes, agentic scenarios) are billed separately and limited by a monthly pool. When the premium request pool is exhausted, there are two options: wait for a reset at the beginning of the next month or pay extra for each additional request over the limit. For a developer who actively uses AI throughout the workday, such a ceiling is reached by the middle of the month.

The problem is exacerbated in agentic scenarios. When the assistant does not just complete a line, but reads several files, executes commands, and iteratively edits code, one such pass consumes dozens of times more requests than regular autocompletion. It is precisely the modes that provide the most value that hit the limit the fastest.

The subscription model is convenient for a predictable budget but hides the real cost: you pay a fixed amount without knowing in advance if the premium limit will last until the end of the month. Pay-as-you-go flips the logic—you pay exactly for what you used, and there is simply no ceiling on the number of requests. Read more about the prices of different providers in our overview of the cheapest AI API.

Instead of a subscription, you can use your own key to a decentralized AI computing network. Gonka is a network of over 4500 GPUs operating on PoUW consensus, where every computation both confirms a block and performs a real AI task. The project has raised approximately $80M in investment, and a security audit was performed by CertiK.

The JoinGonka Gateway is a gateway layer on top of the network that provides a standard API key and accepts requests in familiar formats. Key parameters:

• Pricing: $0.003 per million input tokens and $0.009 per million output — prompts and completions are billed separately.
• Payment model: pay-as-you-go. Pay only for tokens sent; no monthly subscription and no limits on the number of premium requests.
• Start: 10 million free tokens immediately upon registration — enough to test on real tasks before your first deposit.
• Key: jg- format, created in your personal account in a minute.
• Top-up: in GNK cryptocurrency with 0% fee or USDT with a 5% fee.

Two frontier open-weight models are available, both at the same price of $0.003 per million tokens:

• Kimi K2.6 — a Moonshot AI model with a large context, performing well in agentic scenarios.
• MiniMax M2.7 — the third network model, another option for code and long context.

The main difference from Copilot is that these are open-source models that you access directly via your own key, rather than through an intermediary with a request pool. There is no artificial limit on 'premium requests per month': as long as there are tokens in your balance, the assistant works at full power.

Let's compare direct costs at a typical scale. Imagine an active developer who uses an AI assistant throughout the workday: autocomplete, code chat, refactoring, agentic edits. Such a profile easily consumes 30—50 million tokens per month, and even more in agentic scenarios. For context, direct API pricing for proprietary models is high: GPT-5.5 costs $5 per million input and $30 per million output tokens, while Claude Opus 4.8 is $5 and $25, respectively. This is why Copilot imposes limits on premium requests—each such request is genuinely expensive for the service itself.

The pay-as-you-go numbers are calculated directly: 50 million tokens at an average rate of ~$0.0048 per million is about 24 cents. Even if usage grows tenfold to hundreds of millions of tokens per month, the bill will remain within a few dollars. A subscription has a fixed fee which is only the lower bound: you either add surcharges for premium requests over the limit or suffer a loss in quality once the pool is exhausted.

An important caveat: the models provided differ. Copilot gives access to proprietary GPT and Claude, while Gonka provides access to open-source Kimi K2.6 and MiniMax M2.7 models. For most daily coding tasks, frontier-level open-source models provide comparable results, but if a specific proprietary model is critical for your task, this is worth considering. The advantage of pay-as-you-go is not only in price but also in the lack of a ceiling: you aren't left without a powerful model in the middle of the month.

Switching does not require a change in your workflow — it is the same editors and extensions, just with your own key instead of a Copilot subscription. First, get a key, then configure your client.

Step 1. Get a key. Register at gate.joingonka.ai/register, get 10 million free tokens, and create a jg- key in your dashboard.

Step 2. Connect your editor. Most clients support either OpenAI-compatible or Anthropic-compatible formats — Gateway supports both:

• OpenAI-compatible: base URL https://gate.joingonka.ai/v1, key jg-, model MiniMaxAI/MiniMax-M2.7.
• Anthropic-compatible: environment variable ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://gate.joingonka.ai and the same jg- key.

Cursor. Open Settings → Models, enable OpenAI API Key, enter https://gate.joingonka.ai/v1 in the Override Base URL field, paste your jg- key, and add the MiniMaxAI/MiniMax-M2.7 model. Detailed guide in the Cursor with Gonka article.

Continue.dev. An open-source extension for VS Code and JetBrains, a direct competitor to Copilot. In the configuration, specify the openai provider, apiBase set to https://gate.joingonka.ai/v1, and your jg- key. Step-by-step setup in the Continue.dev guide.

Cline. An AI agent for VS Code that autonomously edits files. In the settings, select the OpenAI Compatible provider, base URL https://gate.joingonka.ai/v1, jg- key, and Kimi K2.6 model. Details in the Cline article.

Step 3. Verify. Give the assistant a simple task — for example, write a function or explain a snippet of code. If you receive a response, the switch is complete: you can cancel your Copilot subscription and continue working without limits.

Pay-as-you-go is not always beneficial for everyone — the choice depends on how you use AI in your work.

Switching to your own key is worth it if you:

• actively use AI throughout the workday and regularly hit your monthly premium request limit;
• want predictable costs that grow strictly in proportion to usage, rather than a fixed fee with the risk of extra charges;
• often work in agentic modes (autonomous editing, multi-step tasks) that consume the premium limit the fastest;
• are satisfied with open-weight frontier models — Kimi K2.6, MiniMax M2.7;
• appreciate that one key works simultaneously across multiple clients — Cursor, Continue.dev, Cline — and you don't need to change it when switching editors.

Staying on Copilot makes sense if you:

• write code episodically and do not approach the limits — then a $10 subscription is more than enough;
• are tied to a specific proprietary model like GPT or Claude for specialized tasks where that exact model is vital;
• value Copilot's deep native integration with the GitHub ecosystem and do not want to configure anything manually.

A sensible scenario is a hybrid one: keep the basic subscription for native integration, but move heavy agentic tasks and experiments that burn tokens to your jg- key. This way, you don't hit limits in the middle of the month and pay for volume in cents. To estimate the numbers for your profile, start with the 10 million free tokens and track your actual usage for a week.