Everything you need to know about the GitHub Copilot pricing changes

GitHub is changing how it charges for Copilot usage, claiming that some users haven't been paying the full cost for AI.

Currently, GitHub Copilot uses a premium request unit (PRU) billing system, giving subscribers a set number of credits to spend for more complex queries.

The pricing scheme was introduced last year as a way to limit access to top models.

In a blog post detailing the move, GitHub’s chief product officer Mario Rodriguez said because Copilot has added new features, the company is contending with far higher compete and inference demands.

"Today, a quick chat question and a multi-hour autonomous coding session can cost the user the same amount," said Rodriguez.

"GitHub has absorbed much of the escalating inference cost behind that usage, but the current premium request model is no longer sustainable."

GitHub said that usage-based billing will better align pricing with how Copilot is being used. The new system will replace PRUs with GitHub AI Credits for subscribers, with the option for paid plans to buy more.

How the GitHub Copilot pricing changes will work

Each tier of GitHub Copilot subscription will come with a set number of credits, though paid plans will be able to top up.

"Credits will be consumed based on token usage, including input, output, and cached tokens, according to the published API rates for each model," Rodriguez explained.

Code completions and Next Edit suggestions will be included in subscription plans and not consume AI Credits, the company noted.

"Copilot code review will also consume GitHub Actions minutes, in addition to GitHub AI Credits. These minutes are billed at the same per-minute rates as other GitHub Actions workflows," he added.

Copilot will also end its "fallback" feature, which meant users who ran out of PRUs could fall back to a lower-cost model to keep working.

"Under the new model, usage will instead be governed by available credits and admin budget controls," he said. In short, if you run out of credits, you'll need to buy more.

Indeed, an FAQ document on the changes noted: "Users with intense agentic usage will likely see an increase in costs because those features consume more compute."

Managing costs

The shift to the new system will happen on 1 June, but GitHub will send customers a preview bill in their account Billing Overview page in May to help users and admins understand what their costs will be going forward.

There will be no change to monthly subscription prices, the company noted. A Copilot Business user costs $19/month, and will include $19 in monthly AI Credits.

Meanwhile, Copilot Enterprise will still cost $39/month per user, with $39 in monthly AI Credits.

To help smooth out the shift to the new pricing system, Business users will get a bonus of $30 monthly in AI Credits for June, July, and August, while Enterprise users will automatically get a bonus of $70 a month.

"We are also introducing pooled included usage across a business, which helps eliminate stranded capacity," Rodriguez said. "Instead of each user’s unused included usage being isolated, credits can be pooled across the organization."

That should help businesses give heavy users more credits, with lighter users offsetting the balance, GitHub suggested.

Admins will be able to cap budgets at the enterprise, cost center, and user levels, he added. When pooled credits are exhausted, users can decide whether to buy more or cap spending.

"You’ll have full control over what you spend, tools to track your usage, and the option to purchase more AI Credits if and when you need them," he added.

What does this mean for individual users?

For individual users, those on Copilot Pro and Pro+, their AI Credits will also match their subscription price of $10/month and $39/month, with those on an annual plan staying premium pricing until their subscription expires.

It’s worth noting that model multipliers will increase as of 1 June for those users. Once their plan expires, they'll be converted to Copilot Free and can then upgrade to a paid monthly plan.

Alternatively, annual subscribers can choose to convert to a monthly plan now.

Rodriguez said that temporary changes were made to those plans as well as Free and Student last week, in order to prepare for the new system.

"These were reliability and performance measures as we prepare for the broader transition to usage-based billing," he said. "We will loosen usage limits once usage-based billing is in effect."

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