Pricing
Copilot's flat rate is gone. The $10 price tag isn't.
GitHub Copilot now meters most AI features against a monthly credit pool that doesn't roll over — the sticker price held, but what it buys is now variable.
GitHub moved Copilot to usage-based billing on June 1. The headline prices did not move: Pro is still $10 a month, Pro+ still $39. What those numbers buy did.
Each plan now includes a monthly pool of GitHub AI Credits, priced at one cent each. GitHub's docs put Pro at 1,500 credits and Pro+ at 7,000 per month — a base allowance plus a "flex" top-up. Usage draws down by token consumption at each model's API rates. Unused credits are forfeited when the allowance resets on the first of each calendar month. Nothing rolls over.
What still doesn't meter
Code completions and next edit suggestions stay unlimited on paid plans and consume no credits. That's the durable core worth knowing about. Chat, the CLI, cloud agents, Spaces, Spark and third-party coding agents all bill against credits. Copilot code review now burns GitHub Actions minutes on top of credits. GitHub also pulled Opus-family models from Pro, arguing the necessary rate limits would produce "a worse overall experience" than an unthrottled alternative.
Two corrections
Widely shared reports describe bills jumping from about $29 to nearly $750, and from about $50 to roughly $3,000. Those are user claims relayed by TechCrunch, not figures GitHub confirmed. Treat them as unverified.
Second: you can buy Copilot today. GitHub paused new Pro, Pro+ and Student sign-ups on April 17 and began reopening them gradually on June 17. The plans page currently sells every tier with no waitlist.
What to actually do
- Your invoice is capped by default. Additional usage is opt-in. Exhaust your credits without setting a budget and Copilot stops rather than silently billing you. The real risk is running dry mid-sprint, not a shock invoice.
- Prepayers lose the option. Annual plans keep request-based pricing until they expire, then fall back to Copilot Free. You can convert to monthly with prorated credit.
- Refunds have closed. The cancel-and-refund window GitHub offered ran until May 20.
Budget for variance in capacity, not in price. If your team leans on agents, model the burn before renewal.
Why it matters
Your Copilot line item still reads $10 or $39, so the change won't show up in your books — but the work each seat covers now depends on how many tokens your agent runs consume, and heavy users can hit the wall days into the month. Since overage is opt-in, the practical failure mode is Copilot stopping mid-task, not a runaway bill.
Sources
- GitHub Copilot is moving to usage-based billing — The GitHub Blog (primary)
- Updates to GitHub Copilot billing and plans — GitHub Changelog (primary)
- Usage-based billing for individuals — GitHub Docs (primary)
- Copilot individual plan sign-ups are reopening — GitHub Changelog (primary)
- Announcement & FAQ: Changes to GitHub Copilot Individual Plans (Discussion #192963) — GitHub Community (primary)
- GitHub Copilot Plans & pricing — GitHub (primary)
- 'What a joke': GitHub Copilot's new token-based billing spurs consternation among devs — TechCrunch
- Angry devs vow to flee GitHub Copilot as metered billing takes hold — The Register
Reported by Software Crit from the sources above. Every story is confirmed against at least two independent publishers before publication.
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