Updated 22 Aug 2026 • 3 mins read
GitHub Copilot Pricing 2026: Plans, Credits, and Costs
GitHub Copilot pricing in 2026 spans Free, Pro, Pro+, Max, Business, and Enterprise plans, and in June 2026 it switched from premium requests to usage-based AI Credits. This guide breaks down every plan, what draws credits versus what stays free, and how to keep Copilot spend under control.
On June 1, 2026, GitHub quietly changed what you are buying when you pay for Copilot. The plan prices stayed the same, but the meter behind them did not. Out went Premium Request Units, the old count of how many AI actions you got. In came GitHub AI Credits, billed by the token at each model's rate. If you mostly use autocomplete, nothing changed. If you lean on agent mode, chat, and code review, your bill now moves with how much work you hand the model, not how many times you ask.
This guide covers GitHub Copilot pricing in 2026: every plan and price, the new credits model, what still comes free, and how to keep an agentic Copilot from running up a surprise. Prices can change, so confirm current numbers on GitHub's plans page before you buy.
The short version Copilot's individual plans are Free ($0), Pro ($10/month), Pro+ ($39/month), and Max ($100/month); organization plans are Business ($19/seat) and Enterprise ($39/seat). Since June 1, 2026, all plans bill premium AI usage through GitHub AI Credits (1 credit = $0.01), metered by tokens at each model's rate, and each paid plan bundles a monthly credit allowance roughly equal to its price. Code completions and next-edit suggestions stay free and unlimited on every paid plan; agent mode, chat, and code review draw down credits.
The 2026 Change: Requests Out, AI Credits In
The headline shift is billing. Copilot used to meter premium features by counting requests; since June 1, 2026 it meters them by token usage through AI Credits, where one credit equals one cent. A single request might cost one credit or a couple of thousand, depending on the model and how much context it reads, so pricier models spend credits faster. The relief for buyers is that core autocomplete, code completions and next-edit suggestions, stays free and unmetered on every paid plan; only premium model calls, chat, and agent runs draw credits. This is the same move to token-metered billing reshaping the whole category, which we explore in AI costs are cloud costs now.
Individual Plans
Copilot's individual tiers run from free to Max, each bundling a larger monthly credit allowance for premium use.
| Plan | Price | Included AI Credits | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Limited | ~2,000 completions and 50 chat messages per month |
| Pro | $10/month | ~$15 | Unlimited completions plus a credit allowance |
| Pro+ | $39/month | ~$70 | Larger allowance and premium model access |
| Max | $100/month | ~$200 | Heavy agent and premium model use |
Pro at $10 suits most individual developers who want unlimited autocomplete plus some agent and chat use. Pro+ adds headroom and premium models for heavier users. Max only makes sense if you run Copilot as an automated coding agent for hours a day; for most people, Pro or Pro+ is the better value.
Organization Plans: Business and Enterprise
Team plans add pooled credits, admin controls, and, for Enterprise, SSO and codebase customization.
| Plan | Price / seat | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Business | $19/month | Org-pooled AI Credits, admin and budget controls |
| Enterprise | $39/month | SSO, codebase customization; requires GitHub Enterprise Cloud |
What Draws Credits, and What Stays Free
- Free and unmetered on paid plans: code completions and next-edit (autocomplete) suggestions, the core of day-to-day Copilot.
- Draws credits: agent mode, Copilot chat, code review, and any premium model call, billed by tokens at that model's rate.
- Spends faster: more capable models and larger context windows consume more credits per interaction, so routing routine work to cheaper models preserves the allowance.
- After the allowance: premium usage bills at per-credit rates rather than silently downgrading, which is why budget caps matter.
How to Control Copilot Spend
- Lean on free autocomplete for routine coding, and reserve agent mode and chat for where they clearly save time.
- Route routine premium work to cheaper models to stretch the credit allowance.
- Set per-org or per-seat budget caps so one heavy agent user cannot run up the pooled balance.
- Right-size plans to real usage: many developers do well on Pro, with Pro+ or Max reserved for genuine power users.
The wider discipline of metering and attributing token-based tool spend is the subject of our token economics and TokenOps and LLM cost optimization guides. For another coding agent's economics, see our OpenAI Codex cost and savings guide.
The Takeaway
Copilot in 2026 is two products wearing one subscription. One is the free, unlimited autocomplete that most developers live in and never think about the cost of. The other is the metered, agentic Copilot, chat, code review, and autonomous tasks, that now runs on a token meter like any other AI service. The plan you pick mostly decides how much of that metered half you get before the credits run out.
So budget around the meter, not the sticker. Know that completions are free, that agent runs and premium models are what cost you, and that a credit is just a cent spent on tokens. Pick the smallest plan whose credit allowance covers your real premium use, cap the pooled balance so no single agent session surprises the team, and Copilot stays the quiet productivity boost it is meant to be rather than a line item that grew a meter overnight.
FAQs
Individual plans are Free ($0), Pro ($10/month), Pro+ ($39/month), and Max ($100/month). Organization plans are Business ($19/seat) and Enterprise ($39/seat). Since June 2026, paid plans bundle a monthly AI Credit allowance for premium usage, roughly equal to the plan price.
On June 1, 2026, Copilot replaced Premium Request Units with usage-based GitHub AI Credits (1 credit = $0.01), billed by tokens at each model's rate. Plan prices stayed the same, but premium usage is now metered by consumption rather than a fixed request count. Code completions remain free.
AI Credits are Copilot's usage currency, where one credit equals one cent, spent by token usage across premium model calls, chat, and agent runs at each model's published rate. Each paid plan includes a monthly allowance, and pricier models spend credits faster.
Yes. Code completions and next-edit suggestions remain free and unlimited on every paid plan and are not metered by credits. Only premium features, agent mode, chat, and code review, draw down your AI Credit allowance.
The Copilot Enterprise seat is $39 per user per month, but it requires GitHub Enterprise Cloud at around $21 per user, so the real cost lands closer to $60 per user per month. Through August 2026, Enterprise seats also receive roughly double the standard AI Credits.
Pro ($10) fits most individual developers who want unlimited autocomplete plus some agent use. Pro+ ($39) adds headroom and premium models for heavier users, and Max ($100) suits running Copilot as an all-day agent. Teams use Business ($19/seat) or Enterprise ($39/seat).
Lean on free autocomplete, reserve agent mode and chat for high-value work, route routine premium work to cheaper models, set per-org budget caps so a heavy agent user cannot drain the pooled credits, and right-size plans to actual usage.