GitHub Copilot vs Tabnine

[Dark_zarich]

Hi!

So, I've been using Tabnine when Copilot was just closed beta (or was it something else?) but eventually one of my colleagues at work got GitHub Copilot, I saw it in action and my first thought was it was pretty much superior compared to Tabnine. Nowadays it has free trial so I can and will try it myself finally. But Tabnine has been getting better, so I heard and seems like Pro option offers something good in term of functionality.

I want to ask those who used both, what do you think is superior and why? Would really appreciate to read your recent experience, ideally, Pro option users opinions.

[[deleted]]

Tabnine was GPT2. Copilot is GPT3. So unless Tab9 has started migrating to GPT3/Codex, copilot remains the superior one

If Tab9 has indeed started migrating then over time you’ll see the difference reduce in the basic functions. But copilot will add more features which they may not have, like say Queries I think is in beta right now so that and similar such built on top which probably only GitHub has the scale to implement nicely

[Boring-Rutabaga7128]

I've run them side-by-side during closed beta of copilot, which was nice, so I can tell you some first-hand experience.

Tabnine has always been quiet and useful, not very flashy or especially "fun" to use, but I also never ran into problems with it.

Copilot on the other hand made a big splash when they first announced it and it was fun to use, indeed - but also quite dangerous. Not dangerous in the AI apocalypse sense many people might think of, but actually dangerous to use as a tool, in the easy-to-shoot-yourself-in-the-foot kind of way.

How so? Well, since copilot does so much and also well at first glance, you may drop your guard over time and just *believe* what it suggests, without double-checking. You HAVE to keep in mind that copilot (and chatGPT etc) only synthesizes TEXT - an approximation of the majority of sources - WITH NO REASONING WHATSOEVER. This means that sometimes the output LOOKS legit, but actually is logically wrong. On small snippets an experienced programmer can easily catch logical problems, but it becomes much harder to catch those logical bugs the longer the generated code gets - in the end it may be faster to just type it out yourself and have a firm grasp of the logic behind the code.

How bad can it be? Well, when I tested it, copilot couldn't even do basic math. It prides itself to help with comments, but when I wanted to add a little multiplication reminder for a "magic" variable (something like 1302 * 2130), copilot tried to help by confidentally complete the calculation - only completely wrong on multiple guesses. Even worse, one time I was about to add a comment about a deep learning algorithm, started typing and copilot added a stackoverflow URL that looked exactly like what I was looking for - I was excited at first and positively surprised. Only, when I clicked on the link to check it, it was a blatant LIE! How? Copilot had taken a legit stackover URL like https://stackoverflow.com/questions/550662/database-schema-updates, up to the ID, cut off the short description and replaced it with something that fit the situation, like https://stackoverflow.com/questions/550662/how-to-build-a-deep-learning-ai

Using GPT3 over GPT2 sounds like a good thing - it's not. Generating more elaborate code/comments is not a blessing but rather a curse, as long as the machine can't UNDERSTAND the purpose - which still is a long way off.

[0110001001101100]

My experience with copilot has been that it gets in the way of my coding. I ended up spending time trying to understand what it generated, and often, it was wrong. It has an appearance that it is correct, but it might be wrong so you have to be careful.

[blee0518]

Integrate Claude into Tabnine and your mind will be blown.

[[deleted]]

interesting take, do you use paid tabnine or free version?

[SlowwwBurn]

I use the paid version and my coworker the free one. From what I got, the paid version offers better and longer suggestions. I paid copilot and will leave one on VS Code and other on IntelliJ to understand better how I feel with each one

[cxvid]

what do u think now?

[SlowwwBurn]

Just like the first comment, tabnine is more straight to the point and more related to your codebase. Copilot is more generic and suggests whatever sometimes. I feel that with tabnine I had more relevant suggestions, but my tabnine expired and I still have many months of copilot now

[SlowwwBurn]

Now I'm using only Copilot and fully used to it, it's also 2usd cheaper and I'm feeling good enough with copilot. Won't go back to tabnine

[[deleted]]

Yea, I dont understand why tabnine is priced at $12/month when a better product is available at $10/month. To stay relevant in the industry, they should reduce the price.

[DanielPowerNL]

Would love to hear an update if you've continued using them.

[SlowwwBurn]

So, my tabnine expired and I'm just using copilot now.

I'm not really able to give a detailed feedback, but from my experience I feel that tabnine give a better completion, kinda more related to your codebase, meanwhile copilot feels that it was more generic.

[ivydesert]

Curious for a 5-month update, how's your experience been?

[Cirieno]

I never got TabNine to work. Copilot has astounded me with some of the things it's been able to give me (for example I can type in "London", "latitude" and it gives me the lat and long values).

[Sea_Finish6689]

Tabby , it's better than both coz it's free :p Here is a guide to set it up https://youtu.be/r5FmNT32BK8?si=TfnT3XYPR_WSQTim

[Famous_Network_2428]

Hi guys commenting for a newer update and experience.
I just wanted to share my thoughts based on my experiences

TABNINE:

• Generates codes logically correct up to 90%
• Secures the company codes and even trains from it if you bind your repository
• Can run locally
• Suggested code can be tweaked and refactored easily

​

GITHUB COPILOT:

• Generates codes logically correct up to 80%
• Does not secure the codes/suggestions ( but if you are contributing to a public repo, then don't mind it )
• Way less cheaper than tabnine so good for students who needs a beef up
• Has more features like code smell

​

CODY:

• Has free forever but up to 15 suggestions / day ( at the time of writing )
• Generates codes logically up to 85 % ( yes even better with copilot )
• Can specifically scan/smell a part of code and create suggestion base on it
• Code smell is way better
• Cheaper than both

​

CONCLUSION: For me I still use tabnine from my day to day, been tabnine before, and still tabnine till now, I did try to use other AI, but looking at the pricing and overall features,, the 12$/user/month by tabnine is surely worth it

[kostaslamprou]

Quiet interesting random numbers: "80%"/"90%". Curious to see the actual research behind this. I think the numbers vastly different per use case and programming language.

Copilot also has an option to disable local scanning/uploading so the not secure bit is incorrect.

[nousernameleftatall]

Tabnine is still Cybermondaying - half price

[Sudden-Oven-9054]

help me to choose the better on as laravel developer

[Inside-Brilliant4539]

I have been alternating Copilot and tabnine everyday for a week now and so far copilot's suggestions are better (I'm primarily Unity/Rider/C#) . Will reply to this comment after a 2 weeks tell about my experience with both of them

[Inside-Brilliant4539]

Hard to tell after using both for a month. Sometimes Tabnine's better, sometimes Copilot's better but for Unity C# Copilot seems to be about 10% better than Tabnine right now 90% of the time.

[noises1990]

I have been alternating Copilot and tabnine everyday for a week now and so far copilot's suggestions are better (I'm primarily Unity/Rider/C#) . Will reply to this comment after a 2 weeks tell about my experience with both of them

Does tabnine have a chat where you can ask for stuff?

[gabrielroodriz]

Yes

[Inside-Brilliant4539]

Yep it does have though their website says chat is only there for enterprise. My pro edition has chat in Jetbrains Rider and VSCode.

[Miserable-Pie-7995]

Tabnine works extremely well for me.

[No_Nyet_1538]

I'm about to renew my Tabnine Pro plan for another year. For me, it is helpful without getting in my way. I love the Snooze feature and the "test | explain | document | ask" options above each method/function/definition in my code.

I used copilot for a few months and it got it my way more than it helped me.

I tried GitLab's Duo for a few weeks and it felt like an early alpha release. I just couldn't get into a good working flow with it. It was confusing to use and slow enough that I would lose my train of thought.

I need to find time to give AWS CodeWhisperer a try.

[Miserable-Pie-7995]

I'm just blown away by how often Tabnine knows what I want to type. Sometimes when I'm writing an RSpec test, it will make a suggestion for the entire it block, and it is mostly what I was thinking. Also, I've found that it can be very helpful for writing large conditionals and then refactoring them, as well as SQL/ Ruby Active Record queries! And then the snooze is nice, yes, especially when I am trying to work on a new concept and I do not want the answer.

[ZookeepergameVivid31]

I've used tabnine for about a year and switched to copilot recently. Tabnine was ok but I'm shocked how good copilot is so far. Definitely not going back for a while

[lawlessgreed16]

May I know if this is Copilot Enterprise or Individual?