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Topsoil and GitHub Copilot, compared fairly.

GitHub Copilot is GitHub’s AI coding service, deeply integrated with GitHub and the major IDEs. Topsoil is a private AI coding agent that runs in your own AWS account on Amazon Bedrock. Here is how they differ, from public documentation.

The short version

The main difference is where the work runs. Copilot is a service GitHub operates; its cloud agent works in a GitHub Actions-powered environment. Topsoil is a client that calls Amazon Bedrock in your own account, with no Thazen service in between.

	Topsoil	GitHub Copilot
Where it runs	A client on your machine (terminal, VS Code bridge, desktop app) calling Bedrock in your AWS account	A service operated by GitHub; the cloud agent works in a GitHub Actions-powered environment
Models	The Bedrock models your account enables: OpenAI, Claude, Grok, Nova, Llama and others	Models GitHub offers in Copilot, which vary by plan
Agent to pull request	/task, /goal and /loop plan first, work in an isolated git worktree and open a pull request for a person to review	Copilot cloud agent researches, plans and changes code on a branch, then creates a pull request when asked
Backlog and forge	GitHub, or Jira Data Center with Bitbucket Data Center	GitHub, with integrations GitHub documents
Editors	Terminal for macOS, Windows, Linux; VS Code bridge; desktop app for macOS and Windows	VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains IDEs and others, plus GitHub.com and a CLI
Spend controls	Monthly user and account budgets before each model call, plus an AWS budget action backstop	Per-seat plans with allowances and paid usage settings
Telemetry	None sent to Thazen	Governed by GitHub’s policies for your plan

Facts about other products are taken from their public documentation, linked below. Products change; check the vendor’s current docs before deciding. If something here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.

Which one fits

Where GitHub Copilot is a strong fit

Your code already lives on GitHub and you want the agent to work there, in GitHub’s own environment.
You want inline completions in a wide range of IDEs, with central management from GitHub.
You are comfortable with a vendor-operated service in the request path.

Where Topsoil is a strong fit

You want inference to stay in your own AWS account, on Amazon Bedrock, including AWS GovCloud (US).
You want no vendor-operated service, prompt store or telemetry in the request path.
You want a staged workflow (explore, design, plan, implement, verify, review, document) with a different Bedrock model per stage.
You want monthly user and account budgets checked before each model call, with an AWS budget action as a backstop.
Your backlog is GitHub Issues, or Jira Data Center with Bitbucket Data Center inside your own network.

The two are not mutually exclusive: teams sometimes run more than one tool for different work. Ask us about a pilot to compare on your own code.

Questions

Frequently asked questions.

Is Topsoil a GitHub Copilot alternative?

For teams that want an AI coding agent in their own AWS account, yes. Topsoil runs on Amazon Bedrock with no vendor-operated service in the request path, and opens pull requests on GitHub or Bitbucket Data Center.

Does Topsoil do inline completions like Copilot?

Topsoil is an agent rather than an autocomplete. Its VS Code bridge lends the terminal agent your unsaved buffers, selection and diagnostics, and opens a diff of what a turn wrote.

Sources

See it against your own codebase.

A pilot runs in your own AWS account, with your models and your material, and ends with findings you can act on.

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