GitHub Copilot Pricing 2026: Free, Pro & Business Plans

GitHub Copilot quietly changed how it bills for AI usage on June 1, 2026. Out: Premium Request Units. In: GitHub AI Credits, billed per token. The plan prices stayed the same, but what those prices cover is now fundamentally different.

The good news: if you mainly use code completions and inline suggestions, nothing really changes. The catch: agent mode, chat, and code review now draw from a credit pool that refreshes monthly. Here is exactly what each plan costs and what you should pick.

GitHub Copilot Plans at a Glance

Business and Enterprise customers currently receive 2x promotional AI Credits through August 2026 as GitHub transitions teams to the new billing model.

GitHub Copilot Free Plan: What You Get for $0

The free tier gives you 2,000 code completions per month plus limited access to chat and agent mode. It supports GPT-5 mini and Claude Haiku 4.5, which handle most basic coding tasks reliably.

• 2,000 code completions per month
• Limited chat and agent mode usage
• Copilot CLI access
• Works in VS Code, JetBrains, Neovim, and other supported editors

The free plan works fine for occasional use or testing Copilot before committing. Once you hit the completions cap or need regular agent workflows, Pro is the next step.

Copilot Pro: $10/Month

Pro is the sweet spot for individual developers who code daily. Unlimited code completions plus $15/month in GitHub AI Credits covers chat, agent mode, and code review for most workflows.

• Unlimited code completions and next-edit suggestions
• $10 base credits + $5 flex allotment = $15 total AI Credits per month
• Access to third-party coding agents: Claude Code and OpenAI Codex
• Cloud agent, code review, and model selection included

For most developers, $15 in monthly AI Credits is enough. Quick chat questions cost fractions of a cent. A 30-minute agent session building and iterating on a feature typically runs $2-5, depending on the model.

Tip: Code completions don't consume any AI Credits. Only chat, agent mode, pull request reviews, and Copilot CLI draw from your monthly credit pool.

Copilot Pro+: $39/Month

Pro+ is for developers who run multi-step agent workflows regularly or need premium models like Claude Opus 4.x. You get $70/month in AI Credits, covering significantly heavier usage than Pro.

• Everything in Pro, plus:
• Access to premium models including Claude Opus 4.x
• $39 base + $31 flex = $70 total AI Credits per month
• Audit logs and pooled usage: 4x more included credits than Pro

The model selection here matters. Claude Opus costs more credits per token than Sonnet, but for complex refactoring or architecture-level tasks, the quality difference is noticeable.

Copilot Max: $100/Month

Max is built for sustained, high-volume agent work. You get $200/month in AI Credits, 2.9x more than Pro+, plus priority access to new models and features as GitHub rolls them out.

• Everything in Pro+
• $100 base + $100 flex = $200 total AI Credits per month
• Priority access to new models and features before other tiers

At $100/month, Max only makes sense if you are running Copilot as an automated coding agent for hours each day. For most individual developers, Pro or Pro+ is more practical.

GitHub Copilot Business and Enterprise Plans

Both team plans include the same model access as individual plans. The main differences are seat-level pricing, pooled credits, SAML SSO (Enterprise only), and admin budget controls.

Note: Through August 2026, existing Business customers receive $30 in AI Credits per user (vs. standard $19) and Enterprise customers receive $70 (vs. $39). This promotional pricing applies automatically for existing subscribers.

How GitHub AI Credits Work

Starting June 1, 2026, GitHub AI Credits replaced Premium Request Units (PRUs). Instead of counting requests, every AI interaction is now billed by the number of tokens processed, using GitHub's published model rates.

• 1 AI Credit = $0.01 USD
• Input tokens, output tokens, and cached tokens are all billed at model-specific rates
• Model choice matters: GPT-5 mini costs far less per interaction than Claude Opus 4.x
• Unused credits don't roll over to the next month
• Admins can set budget limits at enterprise, cost center, or user level

Once included credits are exhausted, admins decide: allow additional usage at published rates, or cap spend and stop usage for the month.

What Doesn't Cost AI Credits

This is one of the most common points of confusion. Several core Copilot features don't use your credit pool at all:

• Inline code completions (tab to accept suggestions) on all paid plans
• Next Edit suggestions

Features that do consume credits: chat, agent mode sessions, pull request code reviews, and Copilot CLI commands.

GitHub Copilot vs. Cursor vs. Windsurf

GitHub Copilot isn't the only AI coding assistant. Here is how it stacks up on price:

GitHub Copilot's free tier is more capable than most competitors. For teams already on GitHub, Copilot integrates natively without extra tooling. For context, see our guide to vibe coding and AI coding tools, our OpenAI Codex review (which now integrates directly with Copilot), and our full list of Cursor alternatives.

Real-World Cost Examples

Here is what $15/month in Copilot Pro AI Credits looks like in practice:

1. Light user: 10 short chat questions per day plus occasional PR review. Estimated credit usage: $3-5/month. Well within Pro limits.
2. Mid-level agent user: 2-3 agent sessions per day building and iterating on features. Estimated: $10-15/month in credits. Fits Pro, but consider Pro+ if you rely on premium models.
3. Heavy agent user: 5+ active agent sessions plus daily PR reviews. Estimated: $30-60/month in credits. Pro+ or Max territory.

Reminder: Code completions don't factor into any of these estimates. They are unlimited on all paid plans and use zero AI Credits.

Bottom Line

GitHub Copilot Pro at $10/month is the best starting point for individual developers. Unlimited code completions plus $15 in AI Credits covers most daily workflows without hitting limits.

Step up to Pro+ ($39/month) if you run agent mode for hours each week and want premium models like Claude Opus. Max ($100/month) only makes sense for developers running Copilot as an automated agent pipeline all day.

For teams, Business at $19/user/month includes pooled credits and admin controls that work well for any company already on GitHub. The promotional $30/user through August 2026 makes this a good window to try it.