Visual Studio gets even smarter with more AI models and billing updates

Microsoft has made major upgrades to Visual Studio with regard to the AI experiences offered in the popular development tool.

Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code are among the most popular integrated development environments (IDEs) out there. The tools boast more than 50 million monthly active users, which isn't surprising considering their platform agnosticism, deep integration with the Microsoft ecosystem, and the power of GitHub Copilot. Now, Microsoft is looking to entice even more customers who are eager to use AI models to boost their productivity during the development process.

In a blog post, Microsoft has stated that it has updated the AI models list available in Visual Studio to default to smarter options. For example, Copilot will now use GPT-4.1 rather than GPT-4o, since it offers better responses with faster performance. In addition, users can now select between the following models to enhance their coding experience based on their preferences:

Claude Sonnet 4
Claude Opus 4
Claude Sonnet 3.5
Claude 3.7 (non-thinking and thinking)
OpenAI o3 mini
Gemini 2.0 Flash
Gemini 2.5 Pro

Microsoft has noted that your selected model will persist across your workflows, so if you're unsure about which model to leverage, you can refer to its documentation here. Furthermore, Visual Studio is making it easier to switch between models that are included in your plan through a prompt in the model selector.

When it comes to billing updates, Microsoft has built a new Copilot Consumptions user experience that can be accessed by navigating to the Copilot badge present in the top-right corner of the IDE. As the name suggests, this panel shows your consumption in an easily digestible format. You can also click on Manage Plan, which will take you to the GitHub website.

It is important to note that some models are request-heavy, and Visual Studio will now indicate this to you while you are selecting your model. If you exhaust your premium requests, you will shift to a standard model seamlessly. You should also keep in mind that the GitHub Copilot pricing plans have been updated, and the billing experience in Visual Studio does reflect them.