GitHub Overhauls Copilot Pricing: Usage-Based Credits Replace Premium Requests in 2026

GitHub Copilot Moves to Usage-Based Billing Starting June 1, 2026

GitHub today announced that all Copilot plans will transition to a usage-based billing model effective June 1, 2026, replacing the current premium request system with a new GitHub AI Credits framework. The change aligns pricing directly with how developers use the AI coding assistant, which has evolved from simple chat queries into an agentic platform capable of running multi-hour autonomous coding sessions.

“Copilot is no longer just an in-editor helper—it’s an agentic platform that performs long, complex tasks,” said Sarah Drasner, VP of Developer Experience at GitHub. “Usage-based billing ensures that costs reflect actual compute and inference demands, which is critical for long-term reliability and sustainability.”

Key Changes at a Glance

• GitHub AI Credits will replace premium request units (PRUs). Credits are consumed based on token usage—including input, output, and cached tokens—using published API rates for each model.
• Base plan pricing remains unchanged. Copilot Pro stays at $10/month, Pro+ at $39/month, Business at $19/user/month, and Enterprise at $39/user/month.
• Code completions and Next Edit suggestions remain free and do not consume AI Credits.
• Fallback experiences are eliminated. Previously, users who exhausted PRUs could drop to a lower-cost model. Under the new model, usage is governed by available credits and admin budget controls.
• Copilot code review will consume GitHub Actions minutes in addition to AI Credits, billed at standard per-minute rates.

Why the Shift? Background

Over the past year, Copilot has transformed from a simple code completion tool into an agentic platform that runs long, multi-step sessions using the latest models and iterates across entire repositories. Agentic usage is becoming the default, placing significantly higher demands on compute and inference resources.

“A quick chat question and a multi-hour autonomous coding session currently cost the same,” Drasner explained. “GitHub has absorbed much of the escalating inference costs, but the old premium request model is no longer sustainable.” Usage-based billing addresses this by tying costs directly to the resources consumed, reducing the need to artificially gate heavy users.

To help customers prepare, GitHub will launch a preview bill experience in early May, giving users and admins early visibility into projected costs before the June 1 transition. This preview will appear on the Billing Overview page at github.com.

What This Means for Users What This Means

For individual developers and organizations, the new model incentivizes efficient use of AI resources. Heavy users of agentic features will see higher costs, while casual users may notice little change. Administrators gain budget controls to cap spending per user or team.

The removal of fallback experiences means that once credits are exhausted, access to paid models stops until additional credits are purchased or the next billing cycle begins. GitHub emphasizes that the base plan allotment will accommodate typical usage patterns, and paid plans can buy extra credits on demand.

“This transition is a critical step toward a sustainable, reliable Copilot experience for everyone,” Drasner added. “We’re giving customers months to adapt and providing tools to monitor usage in advance.”

Last week, GitHub also introduced temporary changes to Copilot Individual plans—including Free, Pro, Pro+, Student—and paused self-serve Copilot Business plan purchases as a reliability measure ahead of the full transition. Usage limits will be loosened once the new billing system is in place.