GitHub Copilot Moves to Usage-Based Billing by Token Consumption, Replacing Premium Requests on June 1, 2026
GitHub announced that all Copilot plans will shift to usage-based billing on June 1, 2026. The current premium request unit (PRU) system will be replaced by GitHub AI Credits, consumed per token (input, output, and cached tokens) at published API rates per model.
Key Changes
- Plan pricing unchanged: Pro $10/mo, Pro+ $39/mo, Business $19/user/mo, Enterprise $39/user/mo.
- Monthly AI Credits included: Each paid plan includes credits equal to its monthly price. For example, Copilot Pro gets $10 in credits monthly.
- No more fallback models: When credits are exhausted, usage stops unless admin budgets allow overage at published rates.
- Code completions and Next Edit Suggestions remain free — they do not consume credits.
- Copilot code review consumes Actions minutes in addition to AI Credits.
- Annual plan users keep PRU-based pricing until plan expiry, but model multipliers increase on June 1. They may convert to monthly with prorated credits.
- Business/Enterprise get promotional credits for June-August 2026: Business $30/mo, Enterprise $70/mo per user.
- Pooled included usage across organizations eliminates stranded credits.
- Admin budget controls at enterprise, cost center, and user levels to cap spend.
Why the Change
Agentic usage (long, multi-step sessions) incurs much higher inference costs. Under the old model, a quick chat and a multi-hour autonomous session cost the same. Usage-based billing matches pricing to actual compute, which GitHub says is needed for sustainability and service reliability.
Preview Tool
A preview bill experience launches in early May on the Billing Overview page, letting users and admins see projected costs before the June transition.
For individual plan users, note that GitHub recently paused self-serve Business plan purchases and adjusted usage limits as a preparatory measure. Those limits will be loosened once billing goes live.
📖 Read the full source: HN LLM Tools
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