From 1 June 2026, every GitHub Copilot plan moved to usage-based billing with monthly GitHub AI Credits. Plan prices stayed the same (Pro $10, Pro+ $39, Business $19 per user, Enterprise $39 per user), but each plan now includes credits equal to its price, and paid plans can buy more. GitHub said one flat price for a quick chat and a multi-hour coding session was 'no longer sustainable.'
Key takeaways
- GitHub's beta users asked 'Can we pay for this?' The book calls it the clearest product/market fit signal there is.
- Copilot passed 20 million all-time users by July 2025, adding 5 million in three months.
- From 1 June 2026 all Copilot plans include monthly AI credits equal to the plan price, with more available to buy.
- When the cost to serve one customer can be many times another's, flat pricing breaks.
- Keep the familiar headline price, include an allowance, and charge for usage above it.
GitHub had a simple plan for its private beta.
Offer it for free, and people will come.
People came. But they came with an odd request. As co-founder Tom Preston-Werner put it: "To our surprise, users started writing to us asking, 'Can we pay for this?' They liked it so much they wanted to pay for it. That was the first sign this was going to work."
I don't know a clearer product/market fit signal than that.
Fast forward to 2026, and GitHub's users are paying for something new. The way they pay has changed, because the cost of serving them changed.
What the book said in 2022
In Chapter Ten, GitHub was one of four stories about how you know you've found product/market fit. Patreon heard it from a flood of messages. GitHub heard it from users asking to pay.
The lesson I drew: product/market fit isn't always something you can put a metric on. Sometimes the market just tells you.
What's happened since
GitHub (owned by Microsoft since 2018) found a second wave of willingness to pay with GitHub Copilot, its AI coding assistant.
- In 2024 Satya Nadella said Copilot was already a bigger business than all of GitHub was when Microsoft bought it for $7.5 billion.
- By July 2025 Copilot had more than 20 million all-time users, adding 5 million in three months.
- It was used by 90% of the Fortune 100.
Then AI costs forced a rethink.
GitHub first metered "premium requests." Then it announced that from 1 June 2026, all Copilot plans move to usage-based billing with monthly GitHub AI Credits.
| Plan (Oct 2026) | Monthly price | Included AI credits |
|---|---|---|
| Pro | $10 | Equal to the plan price |
| Pro+ | $39 | Equal to the plan price |
| Business | $19 per user | Equal to the plan price |
| Enterprise | $39 per user | Equal to the plan price |
Paid plans can buy more credits when they run out.
GitHub's explanation was refreshingly plain: "a quick chat question and a multi-hour autonomous coding session can cost the user the same amount," and that "is no longer sustainable."
Why did flat pricing break?
Because the cost to serve stopped being roughly the same for everyone.
Classic software has close to zero marginal cost. Whether a customer uses it for ten minutes or ten hours, your cost barely moves. Flat pricing works.
AI is different. Every question costs compute. A quick chat costs a little. An autonomous agent working for hours costs a lot more. When one customer can be many times more expensive than another, the light users are subsidizing the heavy ones, and the heavy ones can push the whole plan into a loss.
It's the same lesson Cursor learned in public. Read how Cursor broke "unlimited," said sorry, and still hit $1 billion.
Turn your AI costs into a credit rate card
Work out how many credits each action should cost, with healthy margins, using the free Credit Pack Designer.
Why GitHub's fix works
It kept the headline price. Customers see the same $10, $19 or $39 they always did. No sticker shock.
It included usage equal to the price. Light users effectively see no change. That's a smart way to introduce usage-based pricing for AI: most people never feel the meter.
It charges for what costs money. Heavy users buy more credits. Their price now tracks their cost.
It explained why. A plain-language reason turns a price change into a fairness argument. "Heavy users should pay for heavy use" is hard to argue with.
In Chapter Four I called usage-based pricing "the natural evolution of the subscription model" and suggested bundling it with a subscription to give your business more certainty. That's exactly what GitHub has done. Today we'd call it hybrid pricing.
What does it mean for customers?
For most Copilot users, nothing visible changes. They pay the same plan price and use up to the included AI credits each month.
For the heaviest users, the bill now reflects the work they ask for. That's the trade GitHub made: a little more complexity in exchange for a pricing model that can cope as AI agents take on longer, more expensive tasks.
When is this the wrong move?
Credits add complexity. If your costs don't vary much between customers, metering will annoy people for no benefit. Keep it flat.
And if you move to credits, make the balance visible. Surprise bills create churn. Customers should always know how many credits they have left and what a typical task costs.
What you can steal
- Listen for "how do I pay for this?" It tells you what to charge for first. Write down every time a customer asks for something you don't sell yet.
- Find your heavy users. Rank customers by what they cost you to serve, not just what they pay. If the top 10% cost far more than everyone else, flat pricing is hurting you. The AI gross margin calculator helps if your costs are AI-driven.
- Keep the price, add an allowance, charge above it. An accountant could include a set number of advisory calls a quarter. A trades business could include two call-outs a year in a maintenance plan. Beyond that, a clear rate.
- Explain the "why" in one sentence. Fairness sells. Our guide on how to raise prices covers the wording.
Who are the customers you're quietly losing money on? And what would a fair allowance look like for them?
Credit Pack DesignerTurn your cost per action into a credit rate card with healthy margins.Open the free tool →Frequently asked questions
How much does GitHub Copilot cost in 2026?
As at October 2026, Copilot Pro is $10 a month, Pro+ $39 a month, Business $19 per user per month and Enterprise $39 per user per month. Since 1 June 2026, each plan includes monthly GitHub AI Credits equal to its price, and paid plans can buy additional credits. Check GitHub's plans page for current details.
What are GitHub AI Credits?
GitHub AI Credits are the monthly allowance Copilot users spend on AI work. Lighter tasks use fewer credits and heavier ones, like long autonomous coding sessions, use more. Each plan includes credits worth its monthly price. It replaced the earlier system of metered 'premium requests.'
Why did GitHub change Copilot pricing?
Cost to serve varied enormously between users. GitHub put it plainly: 'a quick chat question and a multi-hour autonomous coding session can cost the user the same amount,' which 'is no longer sustainable.' Usage-based credits make heavy users pay closer to what they cost, while light users keep paying the familiar plan price.
Did GitHub raise Copilot prices?
Not the headline prices. Pro, Pro+, Business and Enterprise kept their existing monthly prices. What changed is that usage beyond the included credits now costs extra. For light users nothing changes. For heavy users, the effective price can go up, which is the point of the change.
What's the lesson for a business that doesn't sell software?
If some customers cost you far more to serve than others, a single flat price means your light customers are subsidizing your heavy ones. An included allowance with a fair rate above it, whether that's hours, visits, call-outs or reports, fixes the imbalance without changing the price most customers see.
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Robert Coorey, MBA
Robert is the author of The Subscription Playbook and Feed a Starving Crowd and a Director at BPAG Accountants in Sydney. More about Robert.
Sources
- TechCrunch, GitHub Copilot crosses 20M all-time users (30 Jul 2025)
- GitHub blog, GitHub Copilot is moving to usage-based billing (2026)
- GitHub Copilot plans page (accessed Oct 2026)
Facts and prices checked 27 October 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.