Originally published on DevToolHub.
Your Copilot bill works differently now. On June 1, 2026, GitHub moved every Copilot plan from premium requests to usage-based billing, and GitHub Copilot AI Credits became the meter that decides how much model usage you get each month. The subscription prices didn't change — what you get for them did.
If you use Copilot Chat, the CLI, or the coding agent daily, this affects you directly. Here's what changed, what each plan now includes, and how to keep the bill predictable.
[IMAGE: articles/images/2026-07-13-github-copilot-ai-credits-featured.png | alt: "github copilot ai credits usage-based billing meter across Copilot plans"]
AI Credits Replace Premium Requests
The old model gave you a monthly pool of Premium Request Units, where each interaction with a premium model cost a fixed number of requests. That's gone. Under usage-based billing, Copilot now bills by actual token consumption — input, output, and cached tokens — at the published API rate for each model.
One AI credit equals $0.01 USD. So a $10 Copilot Pro plan carries 1,000 base credits of model usage.
Two things disappeared along with premium requests. First, the fallback experience: Copilot no longer drops you to a lower-cost model when you run out of quota. When your credits are gone, you either buy more, upgrade, or wait for the monthly reset. Second, the fixed per-request cost — a short chat message and a long agentic session used to cost the same premium request. Now they don't, because billing follows tokens.
GitHub Copilot AI Credits by Plan
Subscription prices stayed the same, and a new Max tier was added at the top:
| Plan | Price | Base credits | Flex allotment | Total monthly |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Copilot Pro | $10/month | 1,000 | 500 | 1,500 |
| Copilot Pro+ | $39/month | 3,900 | 3,100 | 7,000 |
| Copilot Max | $100/month | 10,000 | 10,000 | 20,000 |
| Copilot Business | $19/user/month | $19 in credits | — | pooled per org |
| Copilot Enterprise | $39/user/month | $39 in credits | — | pooled per org |
The flex allotment is extra headroom on top of your base credits — Pro effectively gets $15 worth of model usage for its $10 price. Business and Enterprise credits pool across all users in the organization, so a heavy user can draw from what a light user doesn't touch.
⚠️ Note: Business and Enterprise plans get promotional credits through August 2026 — $30/month for Business and $70/month for Enterprise instead of the standard $19 and $39. If your team's usage looks fine right now, re-check it in September when the promo ends.
The Free plan includes 2,000 code completions and a small credit allowance, with model access through auto model selection only. Student accounts keep unlimited completions.
What Consumes AI Credits (and What Stays Unlimited)
Code completions and next edit suggestions remain unlimited on every paid plan. They don't touch your credits at all. If your Copilot usage is mostly tab-completion while you type, this whole change barely affects you.
Credits are consumed by:
- Copilot Chat — every conversation, scaled by length and model choice
- Copilot CLI and the cloud coding agent
- Copilot Spaces and Spark
- Third-party coding agents running through your Copilot subscription
- Copilot code review — which burns both AI credits and GitHub Actions minutes
That last one surprises people. Automated code review on a busy repo is a recurring cost on two meters at once, so check both if you've wired it into every pull request.
How Token-Based Billing Actually Works
Because billing follows tokens, the same feature can cost very different amounts depending on how you use it. Three factors drive the number:
Conversation length. Each message in a chat re-sends context. Long-running conversations consume more input tokens per message, so ten short chats cost less than one marathon session covering the same questions.
Agentic features. The coding agent makes multiple model calls per task — planning, editing, verifying. A single "fix this issue" instruction can fan out into dozens of calls. In practice, agentic workflows are where credits drain fastest.
Model selection. Frontier models bill at higher API rates than smaller ones. Paid plans get a 10% discount on model costs when you use auto model selection instead of pinning a specific model.
Unused credits don't roll over. Your allowance resets to the full monthly amount at 00:00 UTC on the first day of each calendar month, and whatever you didn't use is forfeited.
Annual Plans Keep the Old Pricing — For Now
Monthly Pro and Pro+ subscribers were migrated automatically on June 1, 2026. Annual subscribers weren't. If you're on an annual plan, you stay on premium request pricing until your plan expires — but GitHub raised the model multipliers for annual holdouts on the same date, so the old pricing isn't quite what it used to be.
When an annual plan expires, the account transitions to the Free tier with the option to upgrade back into a usage-based plan. There's no path to renewing into premium requests.
Keeping Your Copilot Bill Predictable
When your included credits run out mid-month, you have three options: upgrade to a higher plan (you're charged only the price difference), set a budget for additional usage, or wait for the reset. Additional usage is billed at $0.01 per credit and can be capped — once you hit the cap, Copilot's premium features pause until you pay for consumed credits or the month rolls over.
For organizations, the billing docs cover budget controls at the enterprise, cost center, and individual user level, plus the choice to allow or block overage spending entirely. Set these before rollout, not after the first surprising invoice.
Three habits that stretch a credit allowance:
- Use auto model selection unless you have a real reason to pin a model — the 10% discount adds up
- Start new chats instead of continuing long conversations — shorter context means fewer input tokens
- Reserve agentic workflows for tasks that justify the fan-out, and lean on unlimited completions for routine coding
If the math stops working for your usage pattern, it's worth comparing against Copilot alternatives or a dedicated agentic tool — the Claude Code vs Codex comparison covers the two most common candidates. And if you're staying, the Copilot tips and tricks guide helps you get more out of the features that are still unlimited.
[IMAGE: articles/images/2026-07-13-github-copilot-ai-credits-diagram.png | alt: "token metering flow splitting into included credits, overage budget, and unlimited completions lane"]
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Did GitHub Copilot prices increase in 2026?
A: The subscription prices stayed the same — Pro is $10, Pro+ is $39, Business is $19/user, Enterprise is $39/user. What changed is the metering: premium requests were replaced by AI credits billed on token consumption. A new Copilot Max tier was also added at $100/month with 20,000 total credits.
Q: Do code completions use GitHub Copilot AI credits?
A: No. Code completions and next edit suggestions are unlimited on all paid plans and never consume credits. Only chat, CLI, agents, Spaces, Spark, and code review draw from your credit allowance.
Q: What happens when my AI credits run out?
A: Premium features pause unless you've set a budget for additional usage. You can upgrade plans (paying only the difference), buy additional usage at $0.01 per credit up to your budget cap, or wait for the monthly reset on the first of the month at 00:00 UTC.
Q: Do unused Copilot AI credits roll over to the next month?
A: No. Unused credits are forfeited and your allowance resets to the full monthly amount on the first day of each calendar month.
Q: I'm on an annual Copilot plan — am I affected?
A: Not immediately. Annual subscribers keep premium request pricing until their plan expires, though model multipliers increased on June 1, 2026. After expiry, the account moves to the Free tier with the option to upgrade into a usage-based plan.
Quick Summary:
- GitHub Copilot AI Credits replaced premium requests on June 1, 2026 — billing now follows token consumption at each model's published API rate
- 1 credit = $0.01; Pro gets 1,500 total monthly credits, Pro+ gets 7,000, the new $100 Max tier gets 20,000
- Code completions and next edit suggestions stay unlimited on all paid plans
- Auto model selection gives paid plans a 10% discount on model costs
- Business/Enterprise promo credits ($30/$70 per month) end in August 2026 — recheck team budgets in September
- Unused credits don't roll over; overage can be capped with a dollar budget
Check your projected usage in the Copilot billing dashboard before the promotional credits expire — that's the number that predicts your September invoice.
