GitHub Copilot Individual Plan Changes: Paused Sign-ups, Tighter Limits, Model Adjustments

GitHub announced significant changes to Copilot Individual plans on April 20, 2026, citing agentic workflows as the primary driver for increased compute demands. The company is implementing three main changes: pausing new sign-ups, tightening usage limits, and adjusting model availability.

Specific Changes

New sign-ups are paused for GitHub Copilot Pro, Pro+, and Student plans. GitHub states this allows them to serve existing customers more effectively.

Usage limits are being tightened for individual plans. Pro+ plans now offer more than 5X the limits of Pro plans. Users on Pro plans who need higher limits can upgrade to Pro+. Usage limits are now displayed in VS Code and Copilot CLI to help users avoid hitting limits.

Model availability is changing:

• Opus models are no longer available in Pro plans
• Opus 4.7 remains available in Pro+ plans
• Opus 4.5 and Opus 4.6 will be removed from Pro+ (as previously announced in the changelog)

How Usage Limits Work

GitHub Copilot has two types of usage limits:

Session limits: Exist primarily to prevent service overload during peak usage. Most users shouldn't be impacted. If you hit a session limit, you must wait until the usage window resets to resume using Copilot.

Weekly limits (7-day): Represent a cap on total token consumption during the week. These were introduced recently to control parallelized, long-trajectory requests that run for extended periods. If you hit a weekly limit but have premium requests remaining, you can continue using Copilot with Auto model selection. Model choice is reenabled when the weekly period resets.

Usage limits are separate from premium request entitlements. Premium requests determine which models you can access and how many requests you can make, while usage limits are token-based guardrails that cap token consumption within time windows. You can have premium requests remaining and still hit a usage limit.

Practical Guidance

If you're approaching a limit, GitHub suggests:

• Use a model with a smaller multiplier for simpler tasks (larger multipliers consume limits faster)
• Consider upgrading to Pro+ if on a Pro plan (5X higher limits)
• Use plan mode in VS Code or Copilot CLI to improve task efficiency
• Reduce parallel workflows (tools like /fleet result in higher token consumption)

GitHub acknowledges these changes are disruptive and is offering refunds for Pro or Pro+ subscriptions canceled between April 20 and May 20, 2026. Users won't be charged for April usage if they cancel during this period.