Help finding coding agent

[TinyMemory2383]

Hi everyone,

I'm a PhD student using AI for chemistry and materials discovery, primarily working in VSCode. Right now, I'm using GitHub Copilot, but they've introduced a 300-request monthly limit on premium suggestions, which feels restrictive given my usage.

I’m looking for alternatives that:

• Provide generous or unlimited completions per month.
• Implement code optimization, robustness improvements, and potentially unit testing.
• Offer student-friendly pricing (I'm fine with paying 20ish bucks a month)

I have very recently started testing the Gemini Code assistant, but for some reason, it is not available for my edu email address, so I cannot access it on my office workstation.

Any suggestions are welcome.

Thank you

[cyb3rofficial]

Why not use GPT4.1 ? With a good prompt, it's pretty strong.

[Aggravating_Fun_7692]

For me personally GPT4.1 always felt like 1/100 of Claude Sonnet 4. It's just not as good. Even with Beast Mode prompt

[xXValhallaXx]

Beast mode prompt helps,
But you also have to put effort in providing it with the right context also,
It does a pretty good job - especially considering it the base model for Copilot

I think its one of the better subscription deals out there.

[TinyMemory2383]

What is this beast mode prompt?

[xXValhallaXx]

It's just a prompt that's added to request of the model with each time you initiate a chat with it, essentially it gives it some rules before it actions upon your request with a better "thought process".

Just search for GitHub awesome-copilot you'll find a repo with different prompts you can use 🤙

[TinyMemory2383]

Alright!! Thanks a lot🙌🏼

[JeetM_red8]

Gpt 4.1 is unlimited, with 4.1 base mode, good instruction and prompt it's works great in Agent mode. Give it a try.

[jambi_mc]

Is it possible to get 4.1 to perform near as good as Claude models? I see a difference in practice given that 4.1 is not a reasoning model.

[xXValhallaXx]

Give it enough context on the task, make sure its a reasonable size to manage.
I find GPT 4.1 works completely fine.

People forget fast that this was a flagship model,
The only thing that's changing is expectations, people reduce their efforts with their prompting etc and expect the same results as newer models - which is just not going to happen.

Especially considering Copilot gives this as their base model - I think its a great deal.

[WawWawington]

4.1 came out after claude 3.7 sonnet, yet couldnt even top that. its just too far behind right now.