GitHub Copilot Enterprise costs $39/month per dev and exists because security teams keep blocking regular Copilot. If you've spent months explaining to InfoSec why autocomplete isn't sending your database passwords to OpenAI, this version exists to shut them up.
Real talk: your developers are already using ChatGPT to write prod code. I've seen senior engineers copy-paste Claude responses straight into PRs without even reading them. You can either pretend it's not happening or get some control over it.
The AI Models You Actually Get
Enterprise gives you multiple AI models including GPT-5, Claude Sonnet 4, and Gemini 2.0 Flash. Claude models are supposedly better at complex reasoning. GPT models are faster for basic completion.
Here's the cost reality - Claude Opus 4 burns through premium requests way faster - think it's like 10x the cost or something. GPT-5 uses normal premium requests. Pick the wrong one and you'll be explaining budget overruns to your manager.
What I use: GPT-4o for everyday stuff (free), GPT-5 when I need it to actually think, and Claude Opus 4 when I'm debugging some nightmare and don't care about cost.
Repository Indexing - When It Actually Works
Repository indexing scans your codebase so AI suggestions match your patterns instead of Stack Overflow garbage. Works great on clean repos, chokes on legacy monoliths with 15 different coding styles mixed together.
Indexing takes hours on big repos and fails randomly. Our monolith indexing shit the bed because someone dumped design files everywhere months ago and nobody cleaned them up. When it works, you get suggestions that follow your naming conventions instead of "result" and "data" variables.
Pro tip: The Copilot extension has memory issues in VS Code that'll eat your RAM and crash the extension. I've reloaded VS Code more in the last 6 months than the previous 3 years. Restart it when autocomplete starts lagging like you're coding on a calculator.
Coding Agents - Proceed with Caution
GitHub Copilot Coding Agents can be assigned GitHub issues and supposedly implement features autonomously. I've seen them handle simple bug fixes and documentation updates reasonably well. Complex features? You're still babysitting them.
The agents support custom instructions via AGENTS.md files, which is crucial because otherwise they'll ignore your team's coding standards. Expect to iterate on these instructions after watching the agent commit formatting violations.
Security Controls That Actually Matter
The content exclusion policies let you block AI models from accessing sensitive repos. This is non-negotiable for any company with proprietary algorithms or customer data. The audit logging is comprehensive enough to satisfy most compliance audits.
IP indemnification means GitHub will defend you against copyright claims related to AI-generated code. This matters more than you think - I've seen legal teams block AI coding tools over this exact concern.
The Real Cost Story
At $39/month per developer plus GitHub Enterprise Cloud at $21/month per user, you're looking at $60/month per developer minimum. The premium request overages can add up fast if your team goes crazy with Claude Opus models.
What Actually Breaks (And How to Fix It)
Repository indexing dies on repos with binary files everywhere. Our indexing failed because someone dumped a bunch of design files in assets/ and left them there for months. Clean that up first or indexing will choke. Also breaks if you have dead symlinks.
Coding agents get confused by build systems. Watched one spend 3 days trying to implement a feature from a 2-year-old issue because our backlog is garbage. Another kept creating PRs that failed linting because it learned from ancient code before we had standards.
Model switching times out during peak hours. VS Code extension stops working when switching between big repos - I restart VS Code daily now because Copilot just gives up after switching from React to our Java monolith.
Budget 2 weeks for rollout. Your SAML will break. Audit logs will spam your monitoring. Devs will find ways around every policy. "Quick setup" takes 3+ hours because permissions are always fucked.
Despite all this shit, it actually helps once you get it working. Just don't expect miracles - it won't fix your tech debt or replace actual code reviews.
Integration Reality Check
Works seamlessly with VS Code, decent with JetBrains IDEs, and acceptable with Visual Studio. Eclipse support exists but feels like an afterthought. The GitHub Actions integration is useful for automating code reviews, but don't expect miracles - it's still an AI, not a senior engineer.
Bottom line: if you need enterprise controls and can justify the cost, Copilot Enterprise delivers on its promises. Just don't expect it to replace human code reviews or magically fix legacy code.