Developer tools & code hosting
GitHub Marketplace vs Visual Studio Marketplace
GitHub Marketplace and Visual Studio Marketplace both compete in developer tools & code hosting. Here is how they compare on the factors that decide where a developer should build — authentication, complexity, review, monetization, and merchant of record.
| Attribute | ||
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | GitHub, Inc. | Microsoft Corporation |
| Ecosystem | Developer tools & code hosting | Developer tools & code hosting |
| Category | Developer Tools | Developer Tools |
| Primary auth | OAuth 2.0 | PAT |
| Also supports | PAT, JWT | JWT |
| Complexity | Moderate (L2) | Moderate (L2) |
| Security review | Required | Not required |
| Integration types | Connector, Workflow action, Bot | Extension |
| Monetization | Free, Paid app, Usage-based | Free |
| Onboarding fee | $0 | $0 |
| Commission | 25% on paid Marketplace apps (waived first $1M in some programs) | 0% (no built-in payments; publishers handle any monetization themselves) |
| Merchant of Record | GitHub acts as MoR for Marketplace billing | None (no merchant of record) |
| AI agents / bots | Supported | Supported |
| Example apps | Codecov, Dependabot, Snyk | GitHub Copilot, Python, ESLint |
| API rate limits | REST and GraphQL rate limits scale with installation and app authentication type. | Marketplace gallery/API limits are not publicly documented as fixed numbers. |
| Links |
Which should you choose?
- Lower complexity: both at level 2/4.
- Security review: Visual Studio Marketplace skips a formal review; GitHub Marketplace requires one.
- AI agents: both explicitly support AI agents.