All GitHub Copilot plans are now on usage-based billing

All GitHub Copilot plans are now on usage-based billing

Hello GitHub Community,

Usage-based billing is now in effect for all GitHub Copilot plans. Please refer to our initial announcement and today’s changelog for more details, and you’ll find an FAQ below.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I buy as much additional usage as I want?

After you consume your included AI Credits, you can enable additional spend by updating your budget to keep using Copilot. However, we may limit how much additional usage users on individual plans can consume based on their usage patterns, billing history, and verification states for their GitHub account. When you hit the limit, Copilot features that require additional AI credits will pause. You can either wait for the next billing cycle or upgrade to a higher plan tier to continue using Copilot. We recommend upgrading to the next plan for more included usage and higher additional usage limits.

What are the additional usage limits? How much additional usage can users purchase?

The limits increase by plan, so the limits for users on a Pro+ plan will generally be higher than those for users on a Pro plan. They also vary depending on a user’s usage patterns, billing history, and verification states for their GitHub account. These limits are subject to change, and you’ll see an in-product notification when you hit a limit.

How will we know when we hit an additional usage spending limit?

You will get an in-product notification when you hit the additional usage spending limit.

Why can’t we purchase as much additional usage as we need without upgrading to a more expensive plan?

Additional usage spending limits are a temporary measure to mitigate abuse while we observe user behavior under the new billing model. We intend to pull these back in the coming weeks, at which point you will be able to purchase additional usage without upgrading your subscription.

Why do the spending limits vary? Why are some users treated differently?

Limits vary by plan tier and account signals, including usage patterns, billing history, and verification state, to protect service reliability and prevent abuse.

How exactly are you determining the amount of a user’s additional usage spending limit? What's the specific criteria?

We look at a variety of factors, including usage and payment history with GitHub. We can’t disclose specifics, as it would give bad actors more details to work with to circumvent our safeguards.

Will we always have to upgrade to a more expensive plan when we hit an additional usage spending limit?

No, we are working on solutions for allowing users to purchase as much additional usage as they need without upgrading to a more expensive plan. That said, our subscription tiers are designed to deliver more value as they increase in cost.

If I upgrade to a more expensive plan but then decide to downgrade, what does that look like? Are there any restrictions on when I can downgrade?

You can downgrade at any point. The downgrade will be a “delayed downgrade” where you will stay in the current, more expensive plan until your next billing cycle. Then you will be charged for the downgraded plan and the lower included usage will take effect the next calendar month.

Please note that if you upgrade from a Student plan to a paid plan, downgrading will take you to a Free plan and you will need to reapply for Student plan.

You said you’d loosen restrictions once usage-based billing is in effect, but sign-ups for new users are still paused. What’s going on?

We understand the frustration. Usage-based billing is now in effect, but we’ve needed additional time to put safeguards in place to ensure a reliable experience for all users. We plan to re-enable new sign-ups for all Copilot plans in the coming weeks.

What does it look like in practice to upgrade? Can you give an example of what the flow looks like?

Once you hit an additional usage spending limit, you can upgrade to the next plan to continue using Copilot’s full set of features (code completions and next edit suggestions remain unlimited for all paid plans). By upgrading, you will be paying a prorated amount of the next plan’s cost based on your billing cycle. Your accrued additional usage will be charged during your next billing cycle.

For example, once you hit the $29 additional usage spending limit on Copilot Pro and decide to upgrade, you will pay a prorated amount of the $39 Copilot Pro+ cost and receive $70 worth of AI Credits that are currently included with the Copilot Pro+ plan. On your next billing cycle, if you stay on Copilot Pro+, you will pay the full $39 for Copilot Pro+, the $29 in additional usage from Copilot Pro, and any additional usage from Copilot Pro+. A similar experience applies from Copilot Pro+ to Copilot Max with the corresponding costs.

When can I sign up for Copilot Max?

Copilot Max is available to existing Copilot Student, Pro, and Pro+ users that would like to upgrade for more included usage. We plan to enable Copilot Max sign-ups for new users when we re-enable sign-ups for all Copilot plans in the coming weeks.

Will you continue to offer flex AI Credits after the current promotion ends?

Flex allotments may vary from month to month. They’re designed to adapt as the economics of AI evolve, including model pricing, new models, and improvements in efficiency.

Why should I pay GitHub API prices when I can just go pay the model provider directly?

Copilot gives you a single subscription across every model family we support, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI , with model availability varying by plan— without managing separate API keys, billing relationships, or rate limits with each provider. You get one bill, one set of usage controls, and access to all of it across VS Code, the Copilot CLI, the Copilot SDK, Copilot Code Review, and tools like OpenCode — without configuring each one separately.

For a lot of developers, the value isn't just "access to a model." It's that Copilot is deeply integrated into the tools they already use: pull requests, code review, the editor, the terminal. That integration work, including the context from your repo, your PR diff, your open files, and more, is what turns a model call into something more useful.

Will users continue to see the same level of restrictive rate limiting we’ve seen over the past few months?

We’ve loosened rate limits considerably, and users should not experience them with normal use.

Can I set up budgets at the user-level for my organization?

Yes, admins can now set a universal budget for users or override for specific sets of users. As users approach their budgets, admins will receive email notifications and can adjust budgets anytime from their billing settings. See our budget management documentation for details.

[EuSouVoce]

So the answer is basically: if you hit your limit too quickly, you should upgrade and pay more?

I get why GitHub moved to usage-based billing, but the numbers feel way off compared to the previous system.

I had only two short sessions in the VS Code extension, with maybe 2–4 prompts total, and somehow that already consumed 210.5 AI Credits/Tokens/Whatever.

Under the old model, that kind of usage would barely make a dent in my monthly quota. Now it feels like a handful of normal interactions can burn through a noticeable percentage of the month's allowance.

What worries me, and most of the users, isn't paying for usage. It's not knowing what a few everyday prompts are going to cost. If developers can't reasonably predict their consumption, it's hard to trust Copilot as a tool they'll use throughout the month.

Honestly, this feels like the kind of change that pushes people to look at other providers or even go directly to the model vendors instead of using Copilot as their main AI tool.

More transparency around how credits are consumed in real-world VS Code workflows would go a long way.
And remember... money doesn't grow on trees nor is it charcoal to be burned!

[DanielRuf]

API prices became usage based for Claude.

[efica]

I'm requesting a refund; it's not the service I signed up for. Also, the credits don't last long now. The AI ​​bubble has burst.

[michalstankiewicz4-cell]

Im sorry for write here
I dont know why i cant respond @github Community Admin, maybe because I was forced to change the plan to free or i`m in "Abuser" or "Bad actor" group.
Is there any possible way to get back tokens or moneys?

Why do the spending limits vary? Why are some users treated differently?
Limits vary by plan tier and account signals, including usage patterns, billing history, and verification state, to protect service reliability and prevent abuse.

How exactly are you determining the amount of a user’s additional usage spending limit? What's the specific criteria?
We look at a variety of factors, including usage and payment history with GitHub. We can’t disclose specifics, as it would give bad actors more details to work with to circumvent our safeguards.

[snaploop-app]

I feel like they have changed the ball game and damaged their customer base and customer satisfaction by making such a drastic and poorly implemented change, its a huge cost increase and not well communicated.. I am very disappointed! what would last me a month now lasted 2 days, maxed out the spend limit and if I knew an upgrade was cheaper than the spend limit I would have upgraded! poor communication and around 100x the price.. NOT HAPPY!!! get it together github team! Clearly a huge issue ... now if I upgrade I have to pay for the upgrade on top of the spend limit increase! Complaint Filed

[TheHuyCung]

I'm requesting a refund; it's not the service I signed up for. Also, the credits don't last long now. The AI ​​bubble has burst.

Are you able to get the refund? It seems we pass the refund windows. Still waiting

[Fu-Jie]

My GitHub account is associated with Fu-Jie, and I have been a long-time annual subscriber.

My annual membership was originally set to expire in approximately two months. Earlier today (June 1, 2026), I clicked the "Refund" button in my account settings out of curiosity—not with the intention of immediately cancelling. I expected this action would lead to a confirmation page, not process the refund directly. However, the refund was executed immediately without any secondary confirmation prompt.

I believe this is a design flaw in the refund workflow. Any action affecting payment and subscription status should include an explicit confirmation step to prevent unintended consequences from accidental clicks or exploratory actions. The absence of this basic safeguard led to the unexpected cancellation of my membership.

To clarify: My request is not about renewal, but about the value of my current active contract. My existing membership had not yet expired and still had nearly two months of service remaining. Given recent changes to GitHub's billing policies, the terms and benefits under my current contract hold unique value during this remaining period. Once refunded and cancelled, renewing would not provide the same conditions.

Given the above, I request that my original membership status and expiration date be restored, and I strongly recommend that your team improve the refund process by adding a necessary confirmation step.

I look forward to your reply.

[prcris]

Eu também fiz isso no passado e ocorreu o mesmo, eles nem perguntam, te cancelam na hora. Muito louco isso.

Hi @Fu-Jie,

Thank you for writing in and explaining the situation.

We understand from what you shared that clicking the refund button processed immediately without a confirmation step, and that this was not your intent. We appreciate you flagging this as a UX concern. I've noted this feedback and shared with internal teams for investigation.

Regarding restoring your previous subscription: this falls outside what I'm able to action directly. We cannot resolve account related issues in this public forum, and I'm sharing this information with the appropriate team to review whether your original subscription and expiration date can be reinstated.

I'll follow up once I have more information. Thank you for your patience.

[chalkplum]

one afternoon pro+ limit 85%

[sasengineering2025-a11y]

Yes here same 2 days work 7K credits burned.. god bye GitHub.. you are not more payable, and its close to robbery! besides Copilot keeps you busy after restart to fix the VS again.. +its a shame thins so many developers here put things for free with all there know how, which get robed too. Years a go GIT was relay good now its just a massive rib-off...very sad!

[fsoft72]

I was a Github Copilot beta tester, then one of the first paying for the service. I was an evangelist of Github Copilot. Today I canceled my subscription. I am switching for Antigravity and Claude, and I am also considering testing how good the new Cursor is.

[bnevolve]

I upgraded to MAX and started to restructure some docs in my project and after that I did a few task for some implementations - I ended up spending all my MAX credits under 24 hours, this is crazy....

I was working heavily almost every day last month on Pro+ and a budget on $100 - no problem...

Same here the costs are exploding in just a couple of days. It is expected that some raises are necessary but these exceptional higher use of the Agents models and costs are way out of balance

[ElettroAle]

The new pricing model is outright robbery!!! I've already canceled my GitHub Copilot plan subscription!!

did the same

[shihabmollah471-png]

The new pricing model is outright robbery!!! I've already canceled my GitHub Copilot plan subscription!!

did the same

[dobrowolskijaroslaw1-sys]

Subject: Large day-to-day difference in Copilot usage for similar work

Hello,

I am reporting a large difference in Copilot usage between two recent sessions on the same repository. On 2026-05-31, I was able to work through a long session and the usage remained within a range that felt predictable. On 2026-06-01, a session that felt comparable or smaller in visible scope consumed much more of my quota. From my point of view the difference is easy to verify and does not match the apparent amount or difficulty of the work performed. I understand that internal context, tool payload, or other service-side factors may exist, but the current accounting behavior is not transparent enough for planning real project work. Please clarify whether the accounting model changed or whether hidden context growth is being billed in a way that users cannot see. I can provide screenshots, approximate session times, and a short written comparison of the two sessions. 8 hours not heavy work...

Regards,
Very disapointed...

[BrandonTaylorDev]

It is disappointing to see the response to these concerns shift into a 'blame game' where users are essentially told they have a 'skill issue' for not optimizing tokens, rather than GitHub providing a transparent, predictable estimation model before requests are run.As it stands, the 'integration' advantage doesn't justify the cost or the lack of predictability.
For my personal work, I’m moving to Codex and exploring other providers immediately. For my team, the economics of a $0.5M internal deployment for 100 seats now far outweigh the headache of usage-based billing, privacy concerns, and the nightmare of renegotiating third-party NDAs.

I hope you realize that Codex will do the same as well if they get the huge amount of transferred users. The old rates were simply massively underwater financially and MS has drawn a line.

That is a "them" issue. They should not have made a product with high value, low cost, tie it into systems that a majority of developers use, push it at every turn, then yank the proverbial rug out saying "Oops! Too expensive."

[LTSarc]

It is disappointing to see the response to these concerns shift into a 'blame game' where users are essentially told they have a 'skill issue' for not optimizing tokens, rather than GitHub providing a transparent, predictable estimation model before requests are run.As it stands, the 'integration' advantage doesn't justify the cost or the lack of predictability.
For my personal work, I’m moving to Codex and exploring other providers immediately. For my team, the economics of a $0.5M internal deployment for 100 seats now far outweigh the headache of usage-based billing, privacy concerns, and the nightmare of renegotiating third-party NDAs.

I hope you realize that Codex will do the same as well if they get the huge amount of transferred users. The old rates were simply massively underwater financially and MS has drawn a line.

That is a "them" issue. They should not have made a product with high value, low cost, tie it into systems that a majority of developers use, push it at every turn, then yank the proverbial rug out saying "Oops! Too expensive."

I mean, it's immoral but also entirely predictable and a classic business strategy. You were effectively all on a discounted preview. If you look at API costs on any frontier model, it is obvious MS was eating over 90% subsidy here. MS may live on a mountain of money but the board would never approve of this forever.

[AAltemus]

It's the strategy, right? 2/3 of the people move on, 1/3 of them pay more so it's enough to cover everyone who left as far as money coming in and they have 1/3 of the usage.

[neohemp]

It's the strategy, right? 2/3 of the people move on, 1/3 of them pay more so it's enough to cover everyone who left as far as money coming in and they have 1/3 of the usage.

My brother's company uses them and are staying with them because of their increased security so I think it's just a way to free up access for them while charging them more than just simply using the API

[ThePlenkov]

Dumbest decision ever....

[YuriySamorodov]

Guess what? It's called effective management, hah

[chenlinzhe]

I upgraded to GitHub Pro ($48/year) but downgraded it back to Free because I cannot subscribe to Copilot at this time.
I am requesting a prorated refund for the unused portion of the GitHub Pro subscription.
I would like to subscribe to Copilot Pro+ at $39 per month.
What should I do?

[ElettroAle]

I upgraded to GitHub Pro ($48/year) but downgraded it back to Free because I cannot subscribe to Copilot at this time. I am requesting a prorated refund for the unused portion of the GitHub Pro subscription. I would like to subscribe to Copilot Pro+ at $39 per month. What should I do?

Switch to claude code

[mikegeering]

but at the new consumption rate, that should give you about two days worth !!!

[DanielRuf]

Hm, wondering if there will be similar changes for the many Copilot variants in M365 and general Microsoft products in the future.

@DanielRuf 👋🏻 Thanks for the question. Our team here supports GitHub Copilot specifically, and we don't have visibility into billing plans for Microsoft 365 Copilot or other Microsoft products.

For questions about M365 Copilot, Microsoft's product and support channels would be the best resource.

I am assuming this was posted in jest, but answering with added context for you or any other users where the info may be helpful.

[LESdylan]

I had faith in you.. Honestly, I regret not taking the refund offer you made. I genuinely think you're going to lose at least 80% of your client base. This is so ridiculous. It's far better to pay in real money and not by token. The base usage is ridiculously low.

[YuriySamorodov]

I regret not taking the refund offer you made

I hear you.. Sound like a trap indeed. So sad and uneven

[gyzrich]

The new pricing model is outright robbery!!! I've already canceled my GitHub Copilot plan subscription!!

[VoxSecuritatis]

I think it is more of a pendulum; yes, intially a lot of people will leave, but I have a feeling they will come back... eventually.

[tofanelli]

I think it is more of a pendulum; yes, intially a lot of people will leave, but I have a feeling they will come back... eventually.

most likely they won't for a fairly simple reason... you have set your whole workflow on copilot, adjusted every single part to your needs and you had to, forcefully, to change to another app, another workflow, another settings and so on.... once you got used to that new one, you won't be coming back even if the older one is better just because you are tired to going back and forth... you most likely won't be doing any of this. you will stick to the new one and start adjusting yourself

[jakteixeiraf]

I'm using VS Code with GitHub Copilot and I chose LLM GPT 5.4 Mini, but the platform is deducting the cost of Gemini 3.5 Flash, and because of that, my credits are disappearing without me using them.

[jakteixeiraf]

I'm currently using SONET 4.6 and it's charging me for GPT 5.4 mini, are you kidding me?

@jakteixeiraf 👋🏻 Hi there,

Thank you for reporting this — I want to make sure we understand what's happening.

To clarify: you selected GPT 5.4 Mini in VS Code Chat, but your usage report shows charges attributed to Gemini 3.5 Flash. Is that correct?

A couple of things to be aware of:

• Some Copilot features (e.g., code completions, agent sub-tasks, or background operations) may use different models than the one selected in your Chat panel. These are separate from your explicit Chat model choice.
• Your detailed usage CSV will show exactly which model was used for each request.

Could you please:

1. Download your usage CSV from Settings → Billing and licensing → Metered usage → Copilot
2. Confirm whether the Gemini 3.5 Flash charges correspond to Chat requests (where you selected GPT 5.4 Mini) or to other features like completions or background operations

If the CSV confirms you're being charged for a model you didn't select for those specific interactions, please share that detail and we'll investigate further.

[ronan-fesselier]

the admin itself is a f*****g bot :)

[Mieekaserra]

How in the hell can 1 prompt which last month would barly cost a cent, now take up $4.51.

this is ununsable and needs rolling back.

[suspex0]

Yes one small UI bug fix 1,50$ lmao

[Plushie905]

Imagine , 2 calls , 550 credits so if i'm in Pro plan = 3 commands -_-

[gyzrich]

The new pricing model is outright robbery!!! I've already canceled my GitHub Copilot plan subscription!!

[hikerID]

Check out the input/output costs for some of the agents, it's insane. Claude Sonnet is 300 input, 1500 output, 30 for cache.

[SuperManito]

So why has the Pro plan reduced its usage limit by almost 100 times compared to before? I also discovered that the GPT-5 mini model has become less intelligent.

[LTSarc]

You should have tested this on people instead of using AI. Most of us are willing to pay $10/month but not $100 or more per month. The mystery billing is problematic because we can use up a quarter of our budget on the 3rd and end up with nothing left by the 10th. Then we are stuck trying to decipher the zillion lines of AI generated code in order to debug problems created with the assistance of AI.

I hope you will consider how this impacts your customers.

Brother you can't even run hundreds of thousands of tokens on a middling, non-Agentic model for $10/month.

As someone who has used independent providers and hosted my own locally, frontier models are staggeringly expensive. Power users were eating up thousands and thousands of dollars in model use.

[neohemp]

You should have tested this on people instead of using AI. Most of us are willing to pay $10/month but not $100 or more per month. The mystery billing is problematic because we can use up a quarter of our budget on the 3rd and end up with nothing left by the 10th. Then we are stuck trying to decipher the zillion lines of AI generated code in order to debug problems created with the assistance of AI.

I hope you will consider how this impacts your customers.

Brother you can't even run hundreds of thousands of tokens on a middling, non-Agentic model for $10/month.

As someone who has used independent providers and hosted my own locally, frontier models are staggeringly expensive. Power users were eating up thousands and thousands of dollars in model use.

Except they did do that
And they took people's money up front for a year and then backed out on it

[LTSarc]

You should have tested this on people instead of using AI. Most of us are willing to pay $10/month but not $100 or more per month. The mystery billing is problematic because we can use up a quarter of our budget on the 3rd and end up with nothing left by the 10th. Then we are stuck trying to decipher the zillion lines of AI generated code in order to debug problems created with the assistance of AI.
I hope you will consider how this impacts your customers.

Brother you can't even run hundreds of thousands of tokens on a middling, non-Agentic model for $10/month.
As someone who has used independent providers and hosted my own locally, frontier models are staggeringly expensive. Power users were eating up thousands and thousands of dollars in model use.

Except they did do that And they took people's money up front for a year and then backed out on it

You still got the year you paid for, they're just opting out of offering it going forward. I'm not trying to defend MS' actions here, just the logic behind them and how predictable it was. Have you seen what OAI or Anthropic API key rates are?

[AAltemus]

You should have tested this on people instead of using AI. Most of us are willing to pay $10/month but not $100 or more per month. The mystery billing is problematic because we can use up a quarter of our budget on the 3rd and end up with nothing left by the 10th. Then we are stuck trying to decipher the zillion lines of AI generated code in order to debug problems created with the assistance of AI.
I hope you will consider how this impacts your customers.

Brother you can't even run hundreds of thousands of tokens on a middling, non-Agentic model for $10/month.
As someone who has used independent providers and hosted my own locally, frontier models are staggeringly expensive. Power users were eating up thousands and thousands of dollars in model use.

Except they did do that And they took people's money up front for a year and then backed out on it

You still got the year you paid for, they're just opting out of offering it going forward. I'm not trying to defend MS' actions here, just the logic behind them and how predictable it was. Have you seen what OAI or Anthropic API key rates are?

The logic/strategy was more or less a bait and switch. No one would pay the rates they wanted so they got everyone in on the cheap, then raised the prices. With entire companies burning their full year's budget on tokens in 3 months and then moving on from AI, they'll have to figure out a way to make this cheaper. I am fully aware of what it costs and all, but that's not my problem to solve.

[neohemp]

You should have tested this on people instead of using AI. Most of us are willing to pay $10/month but not $100 or more per month. The mystery billing is problematic because we can use up a quarter of our budget on the 3rd and end up with nothing left by the 10th. Then we are stuck trying to decipher the zillion lines of AI generated code in order to debug problems created with the assistance of AI.
I hope you will consider how this impacts your customers.

Brother you can't even run hundreds of thousands of tokens on a middling, non-Agentic model for $10/month.
As someone who has used independent providers and hosted my own locally, frontier models are staggeringly expensive. Power users were eating up thousands and thousands of dollars in model use.

Except they did do that And they took people's money up front for a year and then backed out on it

You still got the year you paid for, they're just opting out of offering it going forward. I'm not trying to defend MS' actions here, just the logic behind them and how predictable it was. Have you seen what OAI or Anthropic API key rates are?

That's just it they didn't get the year they paid for, they changed the terms in the middle of the contract. So youre running your mouth and don't even know what they did.

[CCarrMcMahon]

In case anyone is curious on the value comparison, this is what I am seeing on the $10 plan using GPT-5.4:

• Old Version:
  • 300 premium requests (3 messages = 1% usage)
• New Version:
  • 50 premium requests (3 messages = 6% usage)
  • 1000 credits (3 messages ~= 100 credits = 10% usage)

The 100 credits is an upper estimate of what I have been seeing if you assume larger prompts. I have seen as low as 10 credits and as high as 60 so far today. On average I seem to hover around 33 credits per prompt.

[TMattes]

@CCarrMcMahon 👋🏻

You're right that the units have changed: the old model counted "requests" regardless of complexity, while usage-based billing measures actual token consumption. For users who frequently use higher-cost models like GPT-5.4 with larger context, the per-interaction cost is higher than a flat request count implied.

A few things that may help manage your credits:

• Model choice matters significantly. GPT-5 mini ($0.25/1M input, $2.00/1M output) is substantially cheaper than higher-tier models. Choosing a model appropriate to the task complexity can stretch your credits considerably.
• Code completions remain unlimited and are not charged per token on all paid plans.
• Caching helps over time. Repeated context (e.g., the same files across a session) gets cached automatically at up to 90% lower cost.
• Shorter, focused prompts with only necessary context reduce input tokens.

You can see exactly what each request costs in your usage CSV: Settings → Billing and licensing → Metered usage → Copilot.

For budget controls and notifications: https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/tutorials/budgets/getting-started-with-budget-controls

@github Community Admin
I also see a major issue with the output cost, which is significantly higher than the input cost: users have no control over the number of tokens the model generates. While users can keep their input short and focused, every LLM I’ve seen so far tends to be far too verbose, which consumes a large number of tokens.

And what if the output is completely useless? Users still have to pay for it—and on top of that, they then have to spend additional time fixing the mistakes in an often lengthy and expensive response.

Furthermore, the creativity is completely lost, if you constantly have to monitor your token consumption and then realize, that your tokens are gone, before you even reach a viable result.

You really should overthink that, otherwise you will loose a lot of customers...

[lelacag]

Join the $10Club :) I am not going to change it at all. I just want to see where it goes. I hope they change their way of billing and continue to support the developers.

[chalkplum]

GPT-5 mini lol

[aidannairn]

In the previous thread about Usage-based Billing it seemed that a common gripe people had was that unused tokens do not roll-over into the next month. To my knowledge, the topic was never addressed by GitHub. Are GitHub able to disclose the factors contributing to this decision?

While GitHub make a valid point regarding the convenience of having one bill and one set of usage controls—I’ve opted to stick to Pro+, burn through my allocated credit in a week, and then pivot to using OpenRouter for the remainder of the month. OpenRouter offers a similar set of advantages that Copilot has over other providers. It can be used within the same VS Code interface. Plus it has more models and credit rolls-over for up to a year.

[oschuda]

Open Router can't change and edit files, it is useless for me, as I am not a programmer, I am a systems admin.

[webbugt]

Open Router can't change and edit files, it is useless for me, as I am not a programmer, I am a systems admin.

Try opencode (has a web ui and vscode plugin) with openrouter as provider. Add some specialized agents and you're off. You can even mix and match providers as you wish. Basically supports all of them since if not supported directly you can input any openAI standard API as a custom provider.
There's also a plugin to use existing copilot instructions inside opencode

[aidannairn]

Open Router can't change and edit files, it is useless for me, as I am not a programmer, I am a systems admin.

That may have been true some time ago. I can say with absolute certainty that using OpenRouter within VS Code is as seamless as using Copilot’s own models.

If you ask Google today, the AI response will likely give you some outdated info about requiring an extension for it to work. So I understand the skepticism.

Creating an account is free. Why not give it a try using one of their free models? That’s what I did last month when I was weighing out my options.

[nikolaydubina]

Open Router can't change and edit files

what do you mean? get token. connect in VSCode. all AIs that support tools connected throuhg standard VSCode can use 100% of tools there. vision, files, everything. from gemini class models to deepseek or anything, local or cloud, does not matter. as long as they speak OpenAI API.

[neohemp]

Posting here so I can still subscribe to the chaos

[ZHUYUEHAN1]

is that you?

[alesanGreat]

I've been a paying Copilot user and this new credits system is simply unacceptable. In less than 5 hours of normal work today — the very first day of the new billing — I've already burned through 50% of my monthly plan. This is not a pricing change, this is a bait and switch. We paid for a tool, and overnight it became something we can't afford to use the way we always have. I'm canceling my subscription unless this is reverted or seriously reconsidered.

[e-nikulov]

What?? Github, but you just said to use short question, one topic per question to keep small context and now you recommended to repeat content. You mean your BIG but cached context. Great. Just continue spent money.

[MichaelFIlipsen]

This looks much better Opus 4.8 - but this is not Copilot, with Copilot it would have been 2 min. on the same credits...

[esp-dev]

I have the same issue, my usage is 10 times higher, 30% of my Pro+ limit per day, up from a maximum of 3% previously. Unfortunately, I had to cancel my subscription because these rates are unacceptable.

[hupo376787]

Microsoft is tatally insane.

[jarrocha]

We are not the main target customer anymore. If you read the news, you can see that large companies are paying millions for this type of service, they don't need users like us.

[neohemp]

We are not the main target customer anymore. If you read the news, you can see that large companies are paying millions for this type of service, they don't need users like us.

You're right Microsoft is trusted by a lot of companies but I don't think they realize when you do customers like this they remember it

[sl2365]

Time to ditch Microslop then and go with linux!

[HendrikMarxen]

Well, my IT lead already looks where to limit Github Usage and try to figure out if it was a necessary usage. Actually you need good models like Opus in Enterprise context, but if time isnt crucial or you havent a customer who spends tons of money for development, I see no reason to use GitHub Copilot anymore. Its too expensive now

[Nexulo]

I believe GitHub has been gradually stepping back from its responsibilities, and it’s likely we’ll see a noticeable decline in users and repositories over the coming years. There are already plenty of valid reasons to reconsider relying on GitHub as a primary platform.

In my view, it makes more sense to host repositories on more transparent and community-focused platforms, such as https://codeberg.org, which tend to take their role and responsibilities more seriously.

[jtabox]

That's a noble goal, but let's not kid ourselves, it'll take a whole lot more for GitHub to lose its status as a primary platform. Not that they can't do it though, I'm sure they're on the right track.

That said, with that recent change and how it was implemented I assume it's clear to everyone what GitHub thinks about its consumer users and their expendability, which is on par with a usual soulless corporation, as with its parent company.

[Original-Iluster]

It must be stated quite clearly that GitHub is far more than just GitHub Copilot; after all, its primary function is serving as a Git platform.

[neohemp]

It must be stated quite clearly that GitHub is far more than just GitHub Copilot; after all, its primary function is serving as a Git platform.

Thanks Captain Obvious

[Original-Iluster]

On 2 June, my Pro+ was at 95%; as I mentioned earlier, I decided to give DeepSeek a go.

A screenshot says more than a thousand words here.

[YuriySamorodov]

Thanks! How many files do you have in your project?

[Original-Iluster]

@YuriySamorodov 122 .cs, 5 .uss and 9 .md files are visible to the agent, but of course it doesn’t include them all in the context for every request. Unlike my experience with GitHub Copilot, only files that are directly relevant to the specific request are actually read. This can certainly be optimized further, but Kilo Code is new to me and I first need to familiarize myself with it and see where I can make improvements.

[michalstankiewicz4-cell]

Than you i try this. Is that extension for VS Code?

[MichaelFIlipsen]

You could also try Kiro.dev, it is based on VS code open source and have many different models just like Copilot - when you install it it asks if you want to import all settings from VS code and for me it was plug and play, I only needed to login to Github.
I would say that the pricing is very close to how Copilot was before and I have heard that they will lower the price soon...
I have more than 1000 files and almost 300000 lines in my repo..

Refactor on Opus 4.8:
Est. Credits Used: 112.91
Elapsed time: 1h 32m 15s

[Original-Iluster]

@michalstankiewicz4-cell yes it's a VS Code extension.

[ndmbengue-blip]

Bonjour Communinauté
Je viens d'upgrader mais ce n'est toujours pas pris en compte

Comment se passe l'activation d'une licence copilot PRO déja payée?

[jarrocha]

Vous devez demander un reimboursement.

[iPoetDev]

I am unaffliated: but this repo/visx looks promising

https://github.com/pvjagtap/github-copilot-usage-dashboard

[michalstankiewicz4-cell]

Does this mean I'm in the group that has to pay more? I deleted eight unused repositories. Will this lower the price? I`m stupid now. Any possible way to get tokens or money back? Maybe really Im in bad group. That was bug, error, feature whatever without announcements? Is possible to undo that situation with disappearing tokens?
That new "situation" is forever?
Sorry im not good in english

Please someone tell me ❤️

[MissyGH]

Everyone who uses it for actual programming will pay more. Thank God I didn't forget how much I love to code. I'll save my credits for unsolvable problems or initial UI layout. ChatGPT is happy to help me for free for the minor stuff.

[bcdcentral]

Github Copilot (the "gobbler") eats credits voraciously. Signed up for only plan available (Free) to evaluate for MS365 BC extension via VSC. Spent two days prepping and defining instructions with the help of experts. Simple, straightforward tasks/procedures/prompts. Task1: 14% gone (6 good lines of code out of 30). Task2: Object copy/rename: Ok. but now 29% gone and failed compile. Task 3: Plan only. Slightly more complex than Task1 so careful to give it context (little needed) and new object name/type/id/filename. COMPLETE failure because it does not know BC object basics and doesn't ask! Now 88% gone! It prompted me to upgrade (which is impossible). Should I hold out for new plan, more credits and a better model? Or should I just move on? What do you think?

[dutchdevil-83]

Why are you even asking? Run, boy, before it’s too late and you become a permanent hostage here!

[agarny]

You might want to look into using OpenCode with DeepSeek V4 Flash Free. If you use VS Code, you can set things up in such a way that it works with VS Code's Chat panel. Then, you can configure VS Code to use DeepSeek V4 Flash Free as your default AI model.

[bcdcentral]

I'm in no rush and can afford to wait and see how this all shakes out. It's awful to see the "little people" who have been so loyal for so long used as guinea pigs. The real money is in Enterprise accounts where prices will also likely rise. And MS surely appreciates your experience and feedback with usage-based billing. /s Here's some more... As of June 1 the Free account is so limited as to be practically useless - and it cannot be upgraded due to the pause. I'm not looking for a freebee. MS should have a fully functional Free Trial for individuals (just like you do for Enterprise). I prefer to try before I buy.

[ckx]

If you use VS Code, you can set things up in such a way that it works with VS Code's Chat panel.

@agarny If you don't mind, how does this work? I haven't had any luck integrating third party providers into the VSC chat panel without needing API pricing (BYOK). But I felt like there is a way to do it before, and I've simply been unable to find it since, lol.

[agarny]

@agarny If you don't mind, how does this work? I haven't had any luck integrating third party providers into the VSC chat panel without needing API pricing (BYOK). But I felt like there is a way to do it before, and I've simply been unable to find it since, lol.

• Go to https://opencode.ai/ and install OpenCode for your system;
• Go to https://opencode.ai/zen and login (after having signed up; see screenshot 1);
• Click on the API Keys on the left hand side and create an API key (see screenshot 2);
• Start your copy of VS Code, open the Chat panel, click on the Auto button and then on the cog button (see screenshot 3);
• This will open the Language Models window, click on the Add Models... button (see screenshot 4);
• This will open a frame at the top of the screen where you will need to enter the following information (see screenshot 5):
  • Group Name: OpenCode
  • API Key: OPENCODE_API_KEY
  • API Type: Chat Completions
• This will open an editor (see screenshot 6) where you need to fill up a few things:
  • id: deepseek-v4-flash-free
  • name: DeepSeek V4 Flash Free
  • url: https://opencode.ai/zen/v1/chat/completions
• In addition, you may want to add an supportsReasoningEffort entry and a settings entry so that the whole OpenCode section looks as follows:

{
  "name": "OpenCode",
  "vendor": "customendpoint",
  "apiKey": "${input:chat.lm.secret.-52c16f94}",
  "apiType": "chat-completions",
  "models": [
    {
      "id": "deepseek-v4-flash-free",
      "name": "DeepSeek V4 Flash Free",
      "url": "https://opencode.ai/zen/v1/chat/completions",
      "toolCalling": true,
      "vision": true,
      "supportsReasoningEffort": [
        "low",
        "medium",
        "high"
      ],
      "maxInputTokens": 128000,
      "maxOutputTokens": 16000
    }
  ],
  "settings": {
    "deepseek-v4-flash-free": {
      "reasoningEffort": "high"
    }
  }
}

• From there, just save the settings and you are good to go (see screenshot 7)!

Note that you can then configure your VS Code's settings to have DeepSeek V4 Flash Free to be your default model (look for Chat › Plan Agent: Default Model, Inline Chat: Default Model, and Chat › Explore Agent: Default Model).

Otherwise, there is apparently a daily limit for DeepSeek V4 Flash Free, but we have no idea what it is. All I know is that although I used DeepSeek V4 Flash Free quite a bit over the past couple weeks, I have yet to reach that daily limit.

DeepSeek V4 Flash Free is not the best AI model around, but it is definitely very decent (and relatively fast). So, personally, I am quite happy with it until GitHub Copilot decides to revert their decision (but I am not holding my hopes very high on that front!).

Finally, it is possible to add other (free) models supported by OpenCode. Just ask DeepSeek V4 Flash Free to do it for you! :)

[quentien3Code]

All GitHub Copilot plans are now on usage-based billing

Hello GitHub Community,

Usage-based billing is now in effect for all GitHub Copilot plans. Please refer to our initial announcement and today’s changelog for more details, and you’ll find an FAQ below.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I buy as much additional usage as I want?

After you consume your included AI Credits, you can enable additional spend by updating your budget to keep using Copilot. However, we may limit how much additional usage users on individual plans can consume based on their usage patterns, billing history, and verification states for their GitHub account. When you hit the limit, Copilot features that require additional AI credits will pause. You can either wait for the next billing cycle or upgrade to a higher plan tier to continue using Copilot. We recommend upgrading to the next plan for more included usage and higher additional usage limits.

What are the additional usage limits? How much additional usage can users purchase?

The limits increase by plan, so the limits for users on a Pro+ plan will generally be higher than those for users on a Pro plan. They also vary depending on a user’s usage patterns, billing history, and verification states for their GitHub account. These limits are subject to change, and you’ll see an in-product notification when you hit a limit.

How will we know when we hit an additional usage spending limit?

You will get an in-product notification when you hit the additional usage spending limit.

Why can’t we purchase as much additional usage as we need without upgrading to a more expensive plan?

Additional usage spending limits are a temporary measure to mitigate abuse while we observe user behavior under the new billing model. We intend to pull these back in the coming weeks, at which point you will be able to purchase additional usage without upgrading your subscription.

Why do the spending limits vary? Why are some users treated differently?

Limits vary by plan tier and account signals, including usage patterns, billing history, and verification state, to protect service reliability and prevent abuse.

How exactly are you determining the amount of a user’s additional usage spending limit? What's the specific criteria?

We look at a variety of factors, including usage and payment history with GitHub. We can’t disclose specifics, as it would give bad actors more details to work with to circumvent our safeguards.

Will we always have to upgrade to a more expensive plan when we hit an additional usage spending limit?

No, we are working on solutions for allowing users to purchase as much additional usage as they need without upgrading to a more expensive plan. That said, our subscription tiers are designed to deliver more value as they increase in cost.

If I upgrade to a more expensive plan but then decide to downgrade, what does that look like? Are there any restrictions on when I can downgrade?

You can downgrade at any point. The downgrade will be a “delayed downgrade” where you will stay in the current, more expensive plan until your next billing cycle. Then you will be charged for the downgraded plan and the lower included usage will take effect the next calendar month.

Please note that if you upgrade from a Student plan to a paid plan, downgrading will take you to a Free plan and you will need to reapply for Student plan.

You said you’d loosen restrictions once usage-based billing is in effect, but sign-ups for new users are still paused. What’s going on?

We understand the frustration. Usage-based billing is now in effect, but we’ve needed additional time to put safeguards in place to ensure a reliable experience for all users. We plan to re-enable new sign-ups for all Copilot plans in the coming weeks.

What does it look like in practice to upgrade? Can you give an example of what the flow looks like?

Once you hit an additional usage spending limit, you can upgrade to the next plan to continue using Copilot’s full set of features (code completions and next edit suggestions remain unlimited for all paid plans). By upgrading, you will be paying a prorated amount of the next plan’s cost based on your billing cycle. Your accrued additional usage will be charged during your next billing cycle.

For example, once you hit the $29 additional usage spending limit on Copilot Pro and decide to upgrade, you will pay a prorated amount of the $39 Copilot Pro+ cost and receive $70 worth of AI Credits that are currently included with the Copilot Pro+ plan. On your next billing cycle, if you stay on Copilot Pro+, you will pay the full $39 for Copilot Pro+, the $29 in additional usage from Copilot Pro, and any additional usage from Copilot Pro+. A similar experience applies from Copilot Pro+ to Copilot Max with the corresponding costs.

When can I sign up for Copilot Max?

Copilot Max is available to existing Copilot Student, Pro, and Pro+ users that would like to upgrade for more included usage. We plan to enable Copilot Max sign-ups for new users when we re-enable sign-ups for all Copilot plans in the coming weeks.

Will you continue to offer flex AI Credits after the current promotion ends?

Flex allotments may vary from month to month. They’re designed to adapt as the economics of AI evolve, including model pricing, new models, and improvements in efficiency.

Why should I pay GitHub API prices when I can just go pay the model provider directly?

Copilot gives you a single subscription across every model family we support, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI , with model availability varying by plan— without managing separate API keys, billing relationships, or rate limits with each provider. You get one bill, one set of usage controls, and access to all of it across VS Code, the Copilot CLI, the Copilot SDK, Copilot Code Review, and tools like OpenCode — without configuring each one separately.

For a lot of developers, the value isn't just "access to a model." It's that Copilot is deeply integrated into the tools they already use: pull requests, code review, the editor, the terminal. That integration work, including the context from your repo, your PR diff, your open files, and more, is what turns a model call into something more useful.

Will users continue to see the same level of restrictive rate limiting we’ve seen over the past few months?

We’ve loosened rate limits considerably, and users should not experience them with normal use.

Can I set up budgets at the user-level for my organization?

Yes, admins can now set a universal budget for users or override for specific sets of users. As users approach their budgets, admins will receive email notifications and can adjust budgets anytime from their billing settings. See our budget management documentation for details.

Thank you for the clarification, but this FAQ appears to confirm the core issue I am reporting rather than resolve it.

The announcement states:

“Once you hit an additional usage spending limit, you can upgrade to the next plan to continue using Copilot’s full set of features… By upgrading, you will be paying a prorated amount of the next plan’s cost based on your billing cycle… A similar experience applies from Copilot Pro+ to Copilot Max with the corresponding costs.”

That is exactly where my account appears to have failed.

I upgraded from GitHub Pro to Pro+, and then to Copilot Max, specifically because the prior plan had maxed out and I needed the higher included AI Credit allowance. GitHub accepted the upgrade and charged me for the higher-tier subscription. However, the expected entitlement behavior did not occur in practice.

My account currently shows:

• Plan: Copilot Max
• Included AI Credits: 20,000 / 20,000
• Reset date: Jun 30, 2026
• Additional usage: $246.15 / $250 budget
• Additional usage: Enabled

The problem is that I am still being financially affected by the exhausted usage state of the lower-tier plan after upgrading. If the intended upgrade flow is that a user pays the prorated higher-tier cost and receives the higher included AI Credit allowance, then my account should not still be pushing me toward additional usage charges as though the upgrade did not properly refresh or apply the new entitlement.

This needs review by GitHub billing or the Copilot product team because the account state appears internally inconsistent:

1. GitHub charged me for the upgraded Copilot plan.
2. The UI shows Copilot Max as active.
3. The included Copilot Max credits appear listed.
4. Yet additional usage charges remain near the budget limit at $246.15 / $250.
5. The practical benefit of upgrading appears not to have been applied correctly.

I understand from the FAQ that accrued additional usage from the previous plan may be billed during the next cycle. However, that does not explain why the upgrade did not provide a clean operational transition into the higher-tier included usage allowance. If the previous plan was exhausted, and the upgrade was supposed to allow continued use through the new plan’s included credits, then the system should not continue treating the account as constrained by the prior exhausted plan state.

Please escalate this as a billing and entitlement synchronization issue. I am requesting that GitHub review:

• Whether my Copilot Max AI Credit entitlement was actually applied at the time of upgrade.
• Whether additional usage charges after the upgrade are valid.
• Whether the $246.15 additional usage amount includes charges that should have been prevented or offset by the upgraded plan.
• Whether my account can be corrected, credited, or refunded for charges caused by the upgrade not applying properly.

This is urgent because my additional usage budget is nearly exhausted, and I should not be forced to keep paying additional usage while already paying for Copilot Max if the upgraded plan benefits were not applied correctly.

[mohamedmoussaAI]

Guys, you should really take a look at Minimax, I just grabbed a subscription, and it’s been a solid addition so far.
The desktop app is clean—no fluff—but the real win is the utility. It’s got built-in task scheduling and direct Telegram integration,
I’ve been stressing the Minimax3 model for about an hour straight, and the output quality is top-tier. The best part is the efficiency; I’ve barely touched the quota. After an hour of heavy use, I’ve only burned through 4% of the 5-hour limit and about 1% of the weekly allowance (which sits at a massive 1.7 billion tokens).
For 20 bucks, it’s honestly a steal for that kind of capability. Definitely worth a test.

[Pinox]

Yea probably my second choice after Cursor at the moment, Minimax m3 really good value and rated better than opus 4.6 and gpt5.4 on LLMStats for coding.

I think github should rename their current plan:
from Pro+ to "4 day pass" and at least add in description that this plan will last only a couple of days.

[njfamirm]

I purchased the Pro+ plan last year. Given my 8-hour daily workflow—relying on models like Gemini 3.1 Pro and occasionally Haiku 4.5—the plan used to be more than enough. However, with the new credit-based system, even with extreme optimization, the entire monthly quota drains in just one week.

Under these current plans, neither Pro nor Pro+ is viable for a full-time software engineer anymore. Honestly, with this structure, you might as well scrap these tiers entirely.

[ZHUYUEHAN1]

DS有VSCODE的扩展吗

[DoraemonAndRat]

装个AI CHAT MODEL可以接入，小狐狸头像

[codewyuu]

not enough token ughhh, with this trajectory large language models of this capacity probably wont be available to public domain but just to mega corpos, we already get products with their capability decreased.

[AAltemus]

This change has made this tool pretty unusable for us. I get needing to update pricing, but it's to the point where we are going to have to switch to something else because there is no value here now.

[sirdynamite757]

So, how long until student benefits are re-enabled?

[bplasmeijer]

It's wild how quickly you can burn yourself out. This change is ridiculous!

[arge06]

Github bitti. Yeni yollar arayacağız. Bu iş bitmiştir. Belki de iyi olan budur, eskiden olduğu gibi kolları sıvayıp kendimiz yazacağız.