GitHub Copilot is moving to usage-based billing #192948
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Hello GitHub Community, Today we announced we are transitioning to a usage-based billing model for GitHub Copilot, effective June 1 📆 Please refer to the blog post for the full announcement link to blog, and you’ll find an FAQ below. Important May 12, 2026: We've updated the body of this post to include a questions about our announcement: April reports are now available to prepare for usage-based billing 📌 Frequently Asked QuestionsWhy is GitHub changing the Copilot billing model now?We’re making this change now because GitHub Copilot simply is not the same product it was a year ago—it now powers far more complex, agentic workflows that consume far more compute. This change is designed to deliver a more sustainable and reliable product experience by aligning pricing to actual usage and costs. Isn’t this just a price increase disguised as a billing change?The per seat subscription cost of GitHub Copilot is not increasing, and code completions and Next Edit Suggestions remain unchanged. Users with intense agentic usage will likely see an increase in costs because those features consume more compute. With pooled entitlements, organizations that use Copilot Business or Copilot Enterprise may see their total charges reduced as entitlement pooling balances more active users with less active. This just wiped GitHub’s value moat – why should I stay?We believe GitHub Copilot remains the best value and experience for agentic coding. Usage-based billing aligns cost more closely to actual usage and value, while continuing to offer developers the freedom to choose the models and agents that work best for them. Will there be any free models anymore with this shift?With the shift to usage-based billing, free models are no longer part of our offering. If we run out of AI credits mid-month, does Copilot stop working?If your entitlement and set overage budget is fully consumed, you can continue to use Copilot for code completions and Next Edit Suggestions but will have to wait for your entitlements to reset, purchase additional usage, or upgrade your plan to use other features. We’ve built usage surfaces that show your consumption as a percentage of your budget and in dollar terms so you can track usage as you go and plan accordingly. For Copilot Business and Copilot Enterprise users, notification at various consumption levels will be sent to your GitHub admins as your entitlements are drawn down. With pooled entitlements, all included credits are pooled across your business. This means power users can draw more when they need it, and lighter users offset the balance. How can I forecast our AI spend if the bill changes monthly?We’re rolling out a preview bill experience in the coming weeks to show all users how their costs may shift under the new billing model. This will be available to users via their Billing Overview page when they log in to GitHub.com. We currently use PRUs for some features, how does this change that?With usage-based billing, we’re replacing PRUs with a new unit called GitHub AI Credits, which are based on the tokens your interactions consume and priced according to the listed API rates per model. All features aside from code completions and Next Edit Suggestions, which remain unlimited, will be measured and billed in GitHub AI Credits. Will Actions minutes consume my AI Credits?Your monthly bill will include both the total cost of your token usage and Actions minutes consumption. Additionally, Copilot code review recently moved to an agentic architecture that runs on GitHub Actions, and starting June 1, 2026, reviewing a pull request with Copilot will count against your included Actions minutes at the same per-minute rates as any other Actions workflow. I’m on an annual plan, how does this affect my billing?We’re retiring annual plans. If you’re currently on an annual plan, you’ll continue to use PRUs until your subscription expires. After it expires, you’ll be moved to a Copilot Free plan unless you sign up for a new monthly paid subscription. While you can keep using your annual plan until it ends, we’ll be updating model multipliers for PRUs when our new billing model goes live on June 1. We recommend switching to a usage-based monthly plan on June 1, and we’ll provide credits that reflect the prorated amount left on your annual plan subscription. How are you determining what to charge me and how does that change depending on which model I’m using?Usage-based billing means you are charged based on the tokens your interactions consume, priced according to the listed API rates per model. We’ve built usage surfaces that show your consumption as a percentage of your budget and in monetary terms. These show up in your editor, on GitHub.com, and in admin dashboards. Will you resume Copilot trials now that you’ve implemented token-based billing?Our focus has always been on lowering the barriers to entry for anyone who wants to code and that’s why we continue to offer Copilot Free as a no-cost option. Unfortunately, we’ve observed a high volume of abuse through trials and paused them while we investigate. We are actively working on improved safeguards to prevent misuse of the trial system and will share an update when we have one. Will we continue to see increased usage limiting?Unfortunately, users will continue to see increased usage limiting until usage-based billing is implemented on June 1. We know it’s frustrating, and moving to usage-based billing allows us to reduce it. By aligning usage with costs, we can provide a Copilot experience that's predictable and reliable for all users. Why not implement usage-based billing now? Why continue with painful changes like more usage limiting?Usage-based billing requires standing up a new billing and metering infrastructure, which won’t be operational until June 1. In the meantime, we need to implement additional changes to ensure a predictable, reliable experience for all users. These are short-term safeguards, and we expect to lift restrictions once our new billing model is in effect. Why are you only offering promotional pricing for existing Copilot Business and Copilot Enterprise users, and nothing for existing Pro and Pro+ users?While we're not offering promotional pricing for individual paid plans, we’re offering the same 1:1 ratio of plan price to monthly entitlements as we offer for Business and Enterprise. We believe Pro and Pro+ plans remain competitive offerings that deliver high value for individual users. Will my unused AI credits roll over from month to month?No. Your unused AI credits do not roll over from month to month. They will reset at the start of each monthly billing cycle. 🟢 Billing PreviewWhy do I have rows with 0 AIC Values?Some code reviews entries are missing AI Credit estimations. Copilot code reviews charged directly to organizations via automation or a user without a Copilot license will reflect 0 AI Credits due to a data issue. Based on the April usage report, my monthly Copilot bill is going to skyrocket. What can I do to control costs?First, be sure to set up or update your budget for additional Copilot spend today. Budgets currently set for premium request spend will automatically migrate to control AI credit spend on June 1, ensuring you stay within your intended spend. To stretch your usage, consider using lightweight models for quick questions, splitting up planning and implementation requests, and leveraging Auto Mode. Can I use the April usage report to budget for June usage?We recommend viewing the April usage report as a directional signal. It should give you a good indication of how you’ve been using Copilot and how much that type of usage will cost under usage-based billing. Please see the changelog and docs for additional information. |
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Replies: 369 comments 538 replies
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Okay, with this change, will you at least bring back Opus since we're all paying for this again? |
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At least bring back Opus 4.6? 4.5? |
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Can I request a refund for the remainder of my annual plan? I've stopped using Microsoft GitHub Copilot altogether. |
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Is there a benefit of using the Copilot Pro+ at 39$/month instead of using the Copilot Pro at 10$/month and paying for extra usage? |
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how much would be the cost of the tokens? now premium request is 0.04 USD, is it going to be same or 1 million token will be around 10-20 USD and will we have any information how much token agents are using? |
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tengo una suscripción Copilot Pro o Pro+ y organizacionalmente cuento con todos los servicios Microsoft Copilot 365, como aplica esto para mi. |
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I'm a bit confused by this. I currently have CoPilot Pro which gets me a set number of Premium Requests. Under the new system, that gives me US$39 a month in AI Credits. How is this different? Is this a shift to some kind of time-based system where requests that take longer cost more? What does this mean in plain language? |
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I have a pro+ plan, I used 4.6 opus before it got removed, now trying out gpt codex 5.3. If I use let's say 90% current premium request during a month, how much would this cost me extra? Anyone know any estimates or will premium request still be included so I still get my 1500 request ? |
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Will there be changes to allow a single GitHub account to have both an Individual Pro/Pro+ subscription as well as a seat assigned by one or more Businesses or Enterprises? Or do individuals still need to create a separate GitHub account for each to prevent the wrong Business being charged, or being charged for personal use? |
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Will unused AI Credits roll over into future months or are the first $10 or $39 in AI Credits a "use it or loose it" scenario? |
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Removing the free models destroys any value in the individual plans |
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What are you doing to do for GitHub student account ? About GitHub Ai Credits |
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Please, move back into request-based billing. Thanks. |
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I am really sorry but I am not understanding very well the "convoluted language" you are using. I have simple questions:
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"AI credits"?! More number games. Is there just no where for me to have anything approximating a professional coding environment now? I'm done! |
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I guess I need to find alternative subscriptions. Back to Human (Better) Engineers |
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GitHub Copilot usage-based billing: my April preview jumped from $39.07 to $902.72
Important caveat
This is based on GitHub’s billing preview and my exported
What changes on June 1, 2026Today, Copilot paid plans use Premium Requests for premium models and features. Copilot Pro+ currently includes 1,500 premium requests/month, with additional premium requests billed at $0.04/request. Starting June 1, Copilot usage moves to GitHub AI Credits. Under that model, usage is calculated from tokens: input tokens, output tokens, and cached tokens. The model used also matters, because each model has different token pricing. For Copilot Pro+, GitHub currently lists:
Since 1 AI credit = $0.01, that is $70 of included monthly usage before additional usage starts, assuming the flex allotment remains available. My April 2026 preview numbers
Same usage window. Same exported report. Very different billing model. In my preview, the total increased by $863.65. Why the gap is so largeThe current PRU model is request-based. Additional premium requests are priced at $0.04 each, though some models and features may consume multiple premium requests depending on GitHub’s multiplier rules. The new AIC model is token-based. Long chats, large context windows, agentic workflows, code review, Copilot cloud agent, Spark, Spaces, CLI usage, and third-party coding agents can consume significantly more credits than a short chat interaction. That makes the new model more sensitive to:
Chart 1 — Daily projected AIC costNormal = below $30/day · Elevated = above $30/day · Heavy spend = above $100/day Two days alone — April 9 at $194.14 and April 10 at $131.78 — account for more than a third of the projected monthly AIC cost. Chart 2 — Cumulative cost: PRU vs AICThe green line is what I actually paid under PRU billing: a flat $39.07 all month. The red curve is the projected AIC cost, reaching about $933 by the end of April before included credits are applied. Chart 3 — PRU vs AIC cost by modelModel breakdown from my report
One nuance: GPT-5.5 was cheaper in this specific preview than under the PRU calculation. That does not mean GPT-5.5 is generally a cheap model. It means my April GPT-5.5 usage pattern translated to fewer AICs than the PRU charge implied. Under usage-based billing, the real cost depends on token volume and model pricing. What I changed my mind aboutCalling this a “scam” is not accurate. The new billing model is closer to actual compute usage. GitHub has also published a preview tool, model pricing, usage reports, and budget controls. The real issue is communication and bill shock. A user can look affordable under PRUs and become very expensive under AICs, especially with frontier models, large contexts, and agentic workflows. What to do before June 1
Questions I still want GitHub to answer
If you have run your own billing preview, post your numbers below. I am especially interested in whether the spike is mostly driven by specific models, large context usage, code review, or agentic sessions. Posted by dutchdevil-83 · Copilot Pro+ · Data: April 2026 · Source: premiumRequestUsageReport CSV + GitHub Billing Preview · Preview estimates only — actual AIC bills may differ. |
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Will there be a way to setup per-user budgeting in a cost center where the budget applies to each user (without setting up one budget per user)? My use case:
I have a LOT of enterprise users across many orgs, all of which use GHCP and need to have a large number of them each budgeted to a fixed amount; not share from a pool. Can anyone in the know provide insight on this? |
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Hi everyone! 👋 We have identified and fixed an issue that caused AI Credits estimates on our billing preview tool to appear higher than expected in a short period in the month of April. As of Thursday, May 14 at 8:00 AM EST, this has been corrected, and for some users reports may now show a lower estimated price. We’re sorry for the confusion this caused, and we appreciate everyone who flagged it. We won’t be retroactively updating historical CSV exports, so if you’d like to see the latest pricing estimations, please rerun your export and upload to our billing preview tool. |
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I will cancel my subscription completely. Very nice of you Github Admin now the "normal" / student loss the last option when wanting to use affordable ai coding that is actually use full. You're just to greedy I think that's not a computing problem. |
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Will there be a way to monitor request-level consumption in detail (tokens used and cost per request), like in Cursor? It would help us select the most efficient models for each case, particularly throughout this transition. |
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The current system operates as a 'black box.' Users lack the agency to define the scope of project discovery and have no visibility into 'thinking tokens' or internal reasoning. This lack of transparency means we cannot verify if tokens are being wasted on recursive errors or false information, yet we are expected to bear the full financial risk. Rather than optimizing logic to lower costs, GitHub has shifted the financial burden to the customer. A jump from a $10 flat fee to over $300 for side projects is unjustifiable, especially when alternatives like Codex and Gemini offer similar functionality at more predictable price points. Mandatory monthly subscriptions paired with a 'pay-as-you-go' model is contradictory and exploitative. This new pricing structure is unreasonable and significantly diminishes the product's value. |
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my corp enterprise will see 107% increase with AIC usage. we currently control the usage with PRU by assigning budgets at org level, so if a user who is assigned copilot license via that org is subjected to the orgs budgets. Understand with AIC this is going to change
I would highly suggest/feedback to
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My copilot pro license suddenly became copilot free. wtf I bought it for a full year and it's not even half a year yet..., I need to fix this urgently. Where should I go?. Has anyone encountered this problem? Please help me. !!!! |
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GitHub/Microsoft got tired of losing money and subsidizing the value of tokens and took the first step; all the others will follow the same path if they want to be profitable, especially those dependent on VCs. They are predators, not charity. Perhaps the only one that can continue selling subscriptions at an affordable price and offering the cheapest tokens will be Google. They have their own model, computers, and chips and don't need third parties. And even investing billions in DeepMind Lab, they continue to make a profit. |
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That's it for me |
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Hi everyone! 👋
We have identified and fixed an issue that caused AI Credits estimates on our billing preview tool to appear higher than expected in a short period in the month of April. As of Thursday, May 14 at 8:00 AM EST, this has been corrected, and for some users reports may now show a lower estimated price.
We’re sorry for the confusion this caused, and we appreciate everyone who flagged it.
We won’t be retroactively updating historical CSV exports, so if you’d like to see the latest pricing estimations, please rerun your export and upload to our billing preview tool.
Please see our previous updates here