GitHub Copilot is undergoing a major transformation. Starting June 1, 2026, all Copilot plans—Free, Pro, Pro+, Business, and Enterprise—will move to a usage-based billing model. This change replaces the old premium request system with a flexible credit-based approach that aligns costs with how you actually use the tool. Whether you're a casual coder or a power user running multi-hour autonomous sessions, the new system promises fairer pricing and better reliability. Here are the ten essential things you need to understand about this transition.
1. The Big Switch: From Premium Requests to AI Credits
On June 1, 2026, GitHub Copilot will retire its premium request units (PRUs) and introduce GitHub AI Credits. Every plan will include a monthly allotment of credits, and paid users can purchase extra credits if needed. Credits are consumed based on token usage—including tokens sent to the model (input), tokens generated (output), and cached tokens—using the published API rates for each model. This means you pay for what you use, whether it's a quick autocomplete or a complex multi-step coding session. The change is designed to make Copilot sustainable as it evolves into an agentic platform with much higher compute demands.
2. Why GitHub Is Making This Change Now
GitHub Copilot has grown far beyond a simple autocomplete tool. It now powers long-running, autonomous coding sessions that can span entire repositories, using the latest models. This agentic usage is becoming the default, but it consumes significantly more compute and inference resources. Under the old model, a quick chat question and a multi-hour coding session cost the same—forcing GitHub to absorb huge inference costs. Usage-based billing fixes this imbalance. As GitHub explains, it ensures pricing reflects actual usage, maintains service reliability, and reduces the need to artificially gate heavy users. It’s a necessary step for long-term sustainability.
3. Base Plan Prices Stay the Same
Despite the billing overhaul, the base prices for every Copilot plan remain unchanged. Copilot Pro stays at $10/month, Pro+ at $39/month, Business at $19/user/month, and Enterprise at $39/user/month. What changes is how additional usage is charged—you now get an allotment of AI Credits with your plan, and can buy more as needed. This means your monthly subscription cost won't increase, but your bill may vary depending on how heavily you use features like chat, code review, or autonomous agents. GitHub promises this approach is more transparent and aligned with the value you receive.
4. Free Features That Don't Use Credits
Not everything consumes AI Credits. Two core Copilot features remain free: code completions (the inline suggestions as you type) and Next Edit Suggestions (which predict your next move). These are considered essential productivity tools and will be included in all plans without any credit deduction. This means even if you burn through your monthly credits, you can still get basic autocomplete support. The change only affects premium features like chat, advanced code review, and agentic sessions that leverage the latest models.
5. Bye-Bye Fallback Experiences
Under the old system, if you exhausted your premium requests, Copilot would quietly downgrade you to a lower-cost model—a “fallback” that kept you working but with reduced capability. That safety net disappears with usage-based billing. Once you deplete your AI Credits (and if you haven’t set up budget controls or purchased more), Copilot will stop using premium models. You won’t automatically drop to a cheaper default; instead, you’ll need to manage your credit balance. For administrators, this means setting clear budget limits in advance to avoid service interruptions.
6. Code Review Now Consumes Two Resources
Copilot’s code review feature will have a unique billing arrangement. In addition to consuming GitHub AI Credits (calculated by token input and output), it will also count toward your GitHub Actions minutes. These minutes are charged at the same per-minute rates as other Actions workflows. So when you run a Copilot code review, you’ll see charges in two places: credits for the inference and minutes for the runtime. This aligns Copilot review with existing Actions billing, making it easier to track total compute costs across the platform.
7. Preview Your Bills Starting in May 2026
To help customers prepare, GitHub will launch a preview bill experience in early May 2026. This feature gives you a look at projected costs before the June 1 transition. Users and admins can see how much they would have been charged under the new model based on their current usage patterns. The preview will appear on the Billing Overview page when you log in to github.com. This is a great opportunity to estimate your future bills, adjust usage, or set spending limits before the switch takes effect.
8. Temporary Changes for Individual Users
As part of the preparation, GitHub recently rolled out temporary adjustments to Individual plans (Free, Pro, Pro+, Student) and paused self-serve purchases for the Business plan. These are reliability and performance measures to smooth the transition to usage-based billing. Limits on free-tier usage have been tightened, and the pause on Business self-serve prevents plan changes during the migration period. GitHub expects these restrictions to be loosened once the new billing system is fully operational. If you’re an individual user, you may notice slightly different limits until June 1.
9. How Credits Are Calculated: Token by Token
AI Credits are consumed based on token consumption. Tokens are the fundamental units of text—words, punctuation, code fragments—that models process. The new billing counts input tokens (your prompts and context), output tokens (the generated response), and cached tokens (previously processed data that speeds up responses). Each model has its own API rate per token, and credits are deducted accordingly. For example, using a more advanced model will cost more tokens per request. This granularity ensures that a simple one-line suggestion costs far less than an hour-long autonomous coding session.
10. Limited Time to Plan: Your Next Steps
With the change coming in just over a year, now is the time to assess your usage. Check the preview bill in May, review your current monthly premium request consumption, and estimate how many AI Credits you’ll need. For Business and Enterprise admins, consider setting budget controls in your organization settings to cap spending. For individuals, look at your chat and agentic usage patterns. The new system rewards efficiency: you can still use Copilot heavily, but you’ll have a clear financial incentive to use resources wisely. Don’t wait until the last minute—start evaluating today.
In summary, GitHub Copilot’s move to usage-based billing is a significant but logical evolution. It reflects the tool’s growth from a simple autocomplete into a powerful, agentic coding platform. While the transition requires some adjustment, it ultimately provides fairer pricing, better service reliability, and more transparency. By understanding these ten key points, you can prepare your workflow and budget to make the most of the new system. Stay tuned for the preview billing feature in May, and happy coding!