Pricing
GitHub Copilot Cost in 2026: Plans, AI Credits and What You'll Actually Pay
Copilot Pro is $10 a month, but chat and agents run on AI Credits. What each plan really includes, what overage costs, and who should pay for Pro+ or Max.
6 min read
Prices checked Oct 15, 2026 on GitHub’s Copilot plans page and GitHub Docs. No affiliate links on this page (how we work).
The GitHub Copilot cost most people pay is $10 a month, for Pro. The catch is what that $10 covers. Code completions are unlimited on paid plans. Chat, agent mode, code review, the cloud agent and the CLI all spend GitHub AI Credits, and those run out. Full plan history lives on our Copilot pricing tracker. This post covers what you’ll actually pay.
TL;DR
- Individual plans: Free $0, Pro $10/mo, Pro+ $39/mo, Max $100/mo.
- Teams: Business $19 and Enterprise $39 per granted seat per month.
- Unlimited on paid plans: code completions and next edit suggestions.
- Metered: chat, agents, code review and the CLI draw down AI Credits at $0.01 each.
- Monthly allowance: unused credits don’t roll over.
How GitHub AI Credits work
One credit is worth $0.01, so a $10 budget buys 1,000 credits (plans page, checked Oct 15, 2026). Each paid plan gets two buckets every month (billing docs):
- Base credits match your subscription price, and GitHub says “they never change”.
- The flex allotment sits on top. GitHub calls it “a variable part of your included usage” that “may change over time”.
Base credits go first, then flex. Pricier reasoning models burn more credits than lighter ones, per GitHub. It doesn’t publish how many chats a pool covers, and we haven’t measured it.
GitHub Copilot cost by plan: what each one includes
Checked Oct 15, 2026. Credits are shown in dollars at $0.01 each, and the docs list the same amounts as credit counts.
| Plan | Price/month | Base credits | Flex allotment | Total included | Completions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | “Limited chat and agent usage” | Not included | Not published | 2,000/month |
| Pro | $10 | $10 (1,000) | $5 (500) | $15 (1,500) | Unlimited |
| Pro+ | $39 | $39 (3,900) | $31 (3,100) | $70 (7,000) | Unlimited |
| Max | $100 | $100 (10,000) | $100 (10,000) | $200 (20,000) | Unlimited |
Sources: plans page and docs.
Over 12 months that’s $120 for Pro, $468 for Pro+ and $1,200 for Max (12 × monthly, our arithmetic). GitHub shows no annual price.
What happens when you run out
You have three options, per GitHub’s billing docs and FAQ:
- Set a dollar budget for extra usage. It draws down at $0.01 per credit.
- Switch to a cheaper model. GitHub says “lightweight models use fewer credits per interaction”.
- Wait for the reset. That’s 00:00 UTC on the 1st of every month, which is 5:30 AM IST.
“Unused credits are forfeited”, and the reset “does not change based on your subscription billing date.” So if you subscribe on the 25th, your first allowance resets a week or less later, on the 1st. Tying the meter to the calendar instead of your bill is a choice that only helps one side.
Copilot for teams: Business vs Enterprise
According to the docs (checked Oct 15, 2026):
| Plan | Price | Credits per user/month |
|---|---|---|
| Business | $19 per granted seat | 1,900 |
| Enterprise | $39 per granted seat | 3,900 |
Each seat’s credits go into a shared pool for the whole organization, and usage beyond the pool costs $0.01 per credit. Admins decide whether paid overage is allowed. If it isn’t, Copilot pauses until the next cycle (plans FAQ).
Enterprise is designed for companies on GitHub Enterprise Cloud, and adds a bigger pool and enterprise features. GitHub says it doesn’t use Business or Enterprise data to train its models. Code review workflows have also used GitHub Actions minutes since June 1, 2026, so budget for both.
Free ways to get Copilot
- Copilot Free: $0, with 2,000 completions a month and an allowance of AI credits. GitHub doesn’t publish that allowance as a number.
- Copilot Student: free for verified students. It includes unlimited completions but uses auto model selection only.
- Free Copilot Pro: “Verified teachers, and maintainers of popular open source projects may be eligible for free access to Copilot Pro” (docs).
Copilot Free isn’t available to anyone assigned a Copilot Business or Enterprise seat.
Is Copilot worth it compared with Cursor, Claude Code and Codex?
Price only, since we haven’t tested these head to head. Copilot Pro at $10 undercuts Claude Pro and ChatGPT Plus ($20 each, both with a coding agent) and lists Claude, GPT, Gemini and Grok models. Cursor Plus is $8 but Grok-only. More in our Cursor pricing breakdown, Claude Code pricing guide and AI coding tools comparison. Thinking of leaving? See GitHub Copilot alternatives.
Here’s what I’d do: if you mostly accept completions, Pro at $10 is the pick, since completions don’t touch credits. If you keep running out, set a small overage budget first. A $10 top-up beats the $29 jump to Pro+. Move up only if you top up by more than $29 most months. For a team, Business at $19 a seat with pooled credits is the simple answer.
Deciding between the two paid individual plans? Copilot Pro vs Pro+ compares credits, models and agents.
Students may not need to pay at all: see Is GitHub Copilot free for students?.
For the top tier, GitHub Copilot Max vs Claude Max puts Copilot Max next to Claude Max 5x.
Buying for an organization? Copilot Business vs Enterprise compares the two org plans seat by seat.
Deciding between a personal and a company plan? Copilot Pro vs Business compares price, premium requests and policy controls.
The number that drives most Copilot bills is premium requests. How Copilot premium requests work explains the allowance per plan and the model multipliers.
Want to try Pro first? See GitHub Copilot Pro free trial for trial status and cancelling before billing.
Comparing Pro+ with Anthropic’s top plan? Copilot Pro+ vs Claude Max has the limits side by side.
Related: Copilot “error on conversation request”.
Related: Copilot “error during execution”.
Related: Copilot Free vs Pro.
FAQ
How much does GitHub Copilot cost per month? Free is $0, Pro is $10, Pro+ is $39 and Max is $100 per month. Business is $19 and Enterprise is $39 per granted seat per month (checked Oct 15, 2026).
Is GitHub Copilot free? Copilot Free costs $0, with 2,000 completions a month and a limited credit allowance. Copilot Student is free for verified students, and some verified teachers and popular open-source maintainers can get Copilot Pro free.
What are GitHub AI Credits? They’re how Copilot meters chat, agents, code review and the CLI. One credit is $0.01. Completions and next edit suggestions don’t use credits on paid plans.
What happens when I run out of Copilot credits? Set a dollar budget for extra usage at $0.01 per credit, switch to a lighter model, or wait for the reset at 00:00 UTC on the 1st of the month.
How much is Copilot Business per user? $19 per granted seat per month, with 1,900 credits per user pooled across the organization. Enterprise is $39 per seat with 3,900 credits.
Is Copilot Pro+ worth it over Pro? On credits alone, Pro+ includes $70 of usage ($39 base plus $31 flex) against Pro’s $15, for $29 more. It’s worth it if you regularly top up Pro by more than that. We haven’t tested usage patterns.
Sources
- GitHub Copilot plans: https://github.com/features/copilot/plans (checked 2026-10-15)
- GitHub Docs, Copilot plans: https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/get-started/plans (checked 2026-10-15)
- GitHub Docs, usage-based billing for individuals: https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/concepts/billing-and-usage/individuals/billing (checked 2026-10-15)
- Claude pricing: https://claude.com/pricing (checked 2026-10-15)
- OpenAI Codex pricing: https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/pricing (checked 2026-10-15)
- Cursor pricing: https://cursor.com/pricing (checked 2026-10-15)