GitHub Copilot Pricing in 2026: Every Plan, Real Cost, and the Usage-Based Billing Shift

The short answer

GitHub Copilot has five plans in 2026: Free ($0), Pro ($10/month), Pro+ ($39/month), Business ($19/user/month), and Enterprise ($39/user/month, on GitHub Enterprise Cloud). On June 1, 2026, every paid plan moved to usage-based billing. Each plan now includes a monthly pool of GitHub AI Credits (1 credit = $0.01 USD), and paid plans can buy more when they run out. Inline code completions stay unlimited on every paid plan; only chat, agent mode, and code review draw down credits.

Key takeaways

• Five plans: Free, Pro ($10/mo), Pro+ ($39/mo), Business ($19/user/mo), and Enterprise ($39/user/mo).

• Billing changed on June 1, 2026: Copilot moved from counting premium requests to a monthly pool of GitHub AI Credits, billed by token usage at each model's API rate.

• Code completions stay unlimited: inline completions and next-edit suggestions are not billed in credits on any paid plan. Only chat, agent mode, code review, the coding agent, and Copilot CLI draw down AI Credits.

• The sticker price is no longer the real price: a $19/user Business seat is a floor, not a ceiling. Heavy agent and code-review use draws down credits and triggers overages.

• Code review now also burns GitHub Actions minutes (effective June 1, 2026), a second meter most buyers miss.

GitHub Copilot pricing at a glance

Pricing in 2026, by plan:

• Free: $0, with 2,000 completions and 50 chat requests per month. For individual developers trying Copilot.

• Pro: $10/month, $10 base credits. For individual developers.

• Pro+: $39/month, $39 base credits. For power users who want priority model access.

• Business: $19/user/month, about 1,900 credits per user. For teams and organizations.

• Enterprise: $39/user/month, about 3,900 credits per user. For companies on GitHub Enterprise Cloud.

GitHub also offers a higher individual tier (Max, $100/month with $200 in total monthly credits) and a free Student plan for verified students. Each plan's base credit allowance equals its price; paid plans also get a variable flex allotment on top, so total included credits can run higher (for example $15 on Pro and $70 on Pro+). Prices are list prices in USD and can change; confirm current numbers on GitHub's plans page before you commit budget.

What changed on June 1, 2026

Until mid-2026, Copilot's paid plans counted premium requests: a fixed monthly number of advanced-model interactions per seat. On June 1, 2026, GitHub replaced that with usage-based billing built on GitHub AI Credits.

Three things to understand about the new model:

1. One credit equals one cent. 1 AI credit = $0.01 USD. Each paid plan's base credit allowance equals its price; GitHub adds a variable flex allotment on top, so total monthly credits can run higher.

2. Usage is measured in tokens. Every request consumes input, output, and cached tokens, charged at the listed API rate for whichever model you use. A heavier model burns credits faster than a light one.

3. Run out, and you pay overages. Paid plans can buy additional usage once the included allowance is gone. That is what turns a predictable per-seat line into a variable bill.

One thing did not change: inline code completions and next-edit suggestions stay unlimited on every paid plan and do not consume AI Credits. Only chat, agent mode, code review, the coding agent, and Copilot CLI draw down credits, which is where the variable cost actually comes from.

There is also a second meter. Starting June 1, 2026, code review workflows consume GitHub Actions minutes on top of AI Credits, so the cost of automated reviews shows up in two places.

GitHub Copilot Free

Copilot Free costs $0 and is aimed at individual developers who want to try Copilot. It includes 2,000 completions and 50 chat requests per month, with model access through automatic selection. It is enough to evaluate the product, but not built for daily professional use or for teams.

Common question: is GitHub Copilot free? Yes, there is a genuinely free tier for individuals, plus a free Student plan for verified students. There is no free tier for organizations; team use starts at Business.

Copilot Pro and Pro+

Pro is $10/month and includes $10 in base AI Credits each month. It is the standard plan for a working developer who wants completions, chat, and agent features without an organization behind them.

Pro+ is $39/month and includes $39 in base credits, with priority access to newer and heavier models. It suits power users who lean on the most capable models often enough to exhaust a Pro allowance.

The practical difference is the credit pool and model access, not a different feature list. If a Pro user keeps hitting overages, Pro+ can be cheaper than Pro plus add-on usage.

Copilot Business

Business is $19/user/month and includes about 1,900 AI Credits per user (worth $19) each month. It adds organization-level controls: policy management, a central admin view, and the ability to enable or disable features across the team.

For most companies, this is the real starting point. The headline math looks simple (seats times $19), but the monthly credit pool is shared pressure: teams that use Copilot agents, chat, and automated code review heavily will draw down credits faster and move into paid overages. The $19 is the floor.

Copilot Enterprise

Enterprise is $39/user/month and requires GitHub Enterprise Cloud. It includes $39 in AI Credits per user (about 3,900 credits), plus everything in Business: priority access to new models, a larger pooled credit allowance, and enterprise-grade administration. Credits are pooled across the enterprise, so at volume the questions that matter are how the pooled allowance is shared and how overages are priced, not the base seat.

How AI Credits and overages actually work

Here is the mental model that keeps a Copilot bill from surprising you:

• Your plan gives you a monthly base credit pool, equal to the seat price at $0.01 per credit.

• Every metered interaction spends credits based on tokens used and the model chosen.

• Light models and short prompts are cheap. Agent runs, long context, and frequent code review are not.

• When the pool is empty, paid plans buy more usage. That overage is where variable cost lives.

The shift to token-based pricing means a single seat no longer has a fixed cost. Two developers on the same $19 Business plan can generate very different bills depending on how, and how much, they use it.

What GitHub Copilot really costs your team

The published price answers what a seat lists for. It does not answer what you will actually spend. Those are different numbers in 2026, and the gap is the whole story.

Three reasons the real cost runs higher than the sticker:

1. Usage-based overages. Heavy users blow through the included credit pool and trigger paid usage you did not budget per seat.

2. The second meter. Code review burns GitHub Actions minutes separately from AI Credits.

3. Seats you are not using. In most organizations, a meaningful share of paid software seats sit idle, and Copilot is no exception. You pay for licenses nobody touches while a few power users drive most of the spend and most of the overages.

This is not unique to Copilot. Even well-resourced engineering organizations have struggled to predict consumption-based AI spend. Uber exhausted its full 2026 AI coding budget by April 2026. And only about 6% of Microsoft Copilot pilots advanced to broad rollout, according to Gartner, which means a lot of paid seats never reached real, sustained use.

The takeaway for a finance or platform owner is simple: with usage-based billing, you cannot manage Copilot cost from the plan page. You manage it from actual usage. That requires seeing who is using Copilot, how much, and what it costs by team, which is exactly the visibility most companies do not have for AI tools yet.

Guickly shows every AI tool, user, and dollar across the company, sanctioned and shadow, and attributes spend by team and vendor so a usage-based bill like Copilot's stops being a surprise.

Frequently asked questions

How much does GitHub Copilot cost?

Individual plans are Free ($0), Pro ($10/month), and Pro+ ($39/month). For teams, Business is $19/user/month and Enterprise is $39/user/month on GitHub Enterprise Cloud. Since June 1, 2026, paid plans also bill for usage beyond the included monthly credit allowance, though inline code completions stay unlimited.

Is GitHub Copilot free?

Yes. There is a free plan for individual developers with a limited monthly allowance (2,000 completions and 50 chat requests), plus a free plan for verified students. Organizations do not have a free tier; team pricing starts at Business at $19 per user per month.

What is the difference between Copilot Pro and Pro+?

Pro is $10/month with $10 in base monthly credits. Pro+ is $39/month with $39 in base credits and priority access to heavier models. The difference is the credit pool and model access, not a separate feature list.

How much is GitHub Copilot Business?

Business is $19 per user per month, including about 1,900 AI Credits per user. Organization controls and central administration are included. Usage beyond the monthly credit pool is billed as overage.

How much is GitHub Copilot Enterprise?

Enterprise is $39 per user per month and requires GitHub Enterprise Cloud. It includes $39 in AI Credits per user (about 3,900 credits), a larger pooled allowance, and priority model access. Usage beyond the pool is billed as overage.

What changed with GitHub Copilot billing in 2026?

On June 1, 2026, every paid plan moved from counting premium requests to usage-based billing using GitHub AI Credits (1 credit = $0.01 USD). Usage is measured by token consumption at each model's API rate, and code review also began consuming GitHub Actions minutes. Inline code completions stay unlimited.

Why is my GitHub Copilot bill higher than the seat price?

Under usage-based billing, the seat price only covers the included monthly credit pool. Heavy use of agents, chat, and code review draws down credits and triggers paid overages, and code review also consumes GitHub Actions minutes. Actual cost depends on usage, not just the number of seats.