GitHub Copilot, an AI coding tool offered by Microsoft-owned GitHub, has now reached more than 20 million users, according to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella during the company’s recent earnings call. A GitHub spokesperson confirmed that this figure represents all-time users. This means five million new users have tried GitHub Copilot in the last three months alone, as the company reported 15 million users in April.
Microsoft and GitHub have not disclosed how many of these 20 million users engage with the tool monthly or daily, though those numbers are likely significantly lower. Despite this, GitHub Copilot remains one of the most popular AI coding tools available today, with 90% of Fortune 100 companies reportedly using it. Enterprise adoption has also surged, growing approximately 75% compared to the previous quarter.
AI coding tools are gaining traction and stand out as one of the few AI products generating substantial revenue. In 2024, Nadella stated that GitHub Copilot had become a larger business than GitHub was when Microsoft acquired it in 2018. Since then, its growth trajectory has remained strong.
While GitHub Copilot’s user base is substantial, it pales in comparison to AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini, which attract hundreds of millions of users monthly. However, software engineering is a more specialized field, and developers and their employers appear willing to pay a premium for AI coding assistance. With Microsoft’s vast enterprise reach and GitHub’s developer ecosystem, GitHub Copilot is well-positioned to dominate the enterprise AI coding market.
Cursor, another leading AI coding tool, is emerging as a competitor to GitHub Copilot in the enterprise space. The company has been acquiring talent from smaller AI startups to bolster its efforts. According to Bloomberg, Cursor had over a million daily users in March, generating around $200 million in annualized recurring revenue at the time. By June, that figure had reportedly surpassed $500 million, indicating significant growth in its user base.
Initially, GitHub Copilot and Cursor targeted different aspects of the developer experience, but their offerings are increasingly converging. Both now provide AI agents for code review and bug detection. Additionally, they are developing AI agents to automate programming workflows, enabling developers to delegate tasks entirely. Nadella highlighted GitHub’s strong momentum with AI coding agents during the earnings call.
Beyond Cursor, GitHub faces competition from other well-funded players in the AI coding space. Google, which recently acquired the leadership team of AI coding startup Windsurf, is a notable contender. Cognition, the creator of Devin, also absorbed the remaining Windsurf team. OpenAI and Anthropic are further expanding their own AI coding solutions, leveraging their proprietary models—Codex and Claude Code, respectively—to compete in this rapidly evolving market.
The AI coding tool sector is quickly becoming one of the most competitive areas in AI, with major players vying for dominance in enterprise adoption and developer mindshare.