GitHub announced on April 27, 2026 that all Copilot plans move to usage-based billing on June 1, 2026. An earlier version of this article gave January 1, 2026; that date was wrong. GitHub’s own announcement gives June 1.
What is changing
Premium request units are replaced by GitHub AI Credits. According to GitHub, from June 1 Copilot usage consumes AI Credits, which are calculated from token use (input, output and cached tokens) at each model’s published API rates. GitHub’s documentation sets one AI credit at $0.01.
Two related changes in the announcement:
- Users who run out of premium requests can no longer fall back to a lower-cost model. Usage is limited by available credits and by administrator budget controls.
- Copilot code review also consumes GitHub Actions minutes, billed at standard Actions rates.
GitHub said a preview bill would appear on the Billing Overview page in early May so customers could see projected costs before the switch.
What stays included
Code completions and Next Edit suggestions remain included in all plans and do not consume AI Credits. GitHub’s documentation adds that they are unlimited on paid individual plans.
Plans and prices in the announcement
The announcement kept plan prices unchanged and paired each with a matching amount of monthly AI Credits:
- Copilot Pro: $10 per month, $10 in credits
- Copilot Pro+: $39 per month, $39 in credits
- Copilot Business: $19 per user per month, $19 in credits
- Copilot Enterprise: $39 per user per month, $39 in credits
GitHub’s current documentation for individual plans lists different allowances (for example, Copilot Pro at $10 per month with 1,500 total credits, including a flex allotment) and a Copilot Max plan. Because the two GitHub pages differ, check the documentation for the figures that apply to you today.
Who moves and when
- Monthly Pro and Pro+ subscribers migrated automatically on June 1.
- Annual Pro and Pro+ subscribers stay on premium request pricing until the plan expires, although model multipliers rise on June 1 for them. At expiry they move to Copilot Free, with the option to upgrade to a monthly plan. They can also switch to monthly earlier and receive prorated credits for the remaining annual value.
- Business and Enterprise customers get pooled included usage across the organisation and budget controls at enterprise, cost centre and user level. Existing customers received promotional included credits of $30 (Business) and $70 (Enterprise) per month for June, July and August.
How usage is counted
GitHub’s documentation says cost depends on the model and the tokens consumed, and that longer conversations, agent work with many model calls and more capable models use more credits. When credits run out on an individual plan you can upgrade, set a budget for additional usage in dollars, or wait for the monthly reset, which happens at 00:00 UTC on the first of each month. Unused credits do not carry over.
Sources
- GitHub Blog: GitHub Copilot is moving to usage-based billing
- GitHub Docs: Usage-based billing for individuals
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