Quick Answer: How Much Does GitHub Copilot Cost in 2026?
GitHub Copilot costs $10/month for individual developers (Copilot Pro), $19/user/month for teams (Copilot Business), and $39/user/month for the enterprise tier (Copilot Enterprise) or the individual Copilot Pro+ plan. In 2026 GitHub moved every Copilot plan to usage-based billing in GitHub AI Credits — each plan includes a monthly allowance, and 1 AI credit equals $0.01 of usage. A free tier still exists (2,000 code completions per month) for trying Copilot before paying. Note that GitHub Copilot is a different product from Microsoft 365 Copilot, the $30/month add-on that runs inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams — this guide covers both so you don’t buy the wrong one.
GitHub Copilot Plans at a Glance
| Plan | Price | Included AI credits / month | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copilot Free | $0 | 2,000 completions + limited chat/agent | Trying Copilot before paying |
| Copilot Pro | $10/mo | 1,500 ($15) | Individual developers |
| Copilot Pro+ | $39/mo | 7,000 ($70) | Premium models (incl. Opus) and power users |
| Copilot Max | $100/mo | 20,000 ($200) | Sustained, high-volume agent work |
| Copilot Business | $19/user/mo | Pooled allowance | Teams needing policy management |
| Copilot Enterprise | $39/user/mo | Larger pooled allowance | Enterprises needing codebase indexing |
All paid plans include unlimited code completions and next-edit suggestions. Everything else — chat, agent mode, code review, the Copilot CLI, the cloud agent, and Copilot apps — consumes your monthly AI credit allowance.
How GitHub AI Credits Work in 2026
On June 1, 2026 GitHub switched all Copilot plans to usage-based billing. Your plan includes a monthly allowance of GitHub AI Credits (1 credit = $0.01), split into:
- Base credits — tied to your subscription price and always included.
- Flex allotment — a variable top-up Microsoft grants on top of base credits (Pro +500, Pro+ +3,100, Max +10,000), designed to absorb model price changes.
Credits are consumed per token, priced by model: input, cached, and output tokens are converted to credits at published per-model rates. Spend your base credits first, then the flex allotment kicks in automatically across the IDE, GitHub.com, and the CLI — no extra setup. If you still run out, you can set an additional spending budget and be billed for extra credits at month-end.
Two 2026 gotchas to budget for: Copilot code review now also consumes GitHub Actions minutes on top of AI credits, and user-level budgets are now generally available for organizations and enterprises, so admins can cap AI credit spend per user or team. A usage dashboard shows your remaining allowance in real time.
GitHub Copilot for Individuals
For individuals there are four tiers, and all of them (except Free) now include a monthly credit allowance rather than flat “unlimited” chat:
- Free — limited access: 2,000 code completions per month plus constrained chat and agent usage. Good enough to evaluate whether Copilot fits your workflow. The Free plan also works with the Copilot CLI and agent mode in a restricted way.
- Pro ($10/mo) — unlimited completions, the cloud agent, code review, model selection, and access to third-party agents including Claude Code and Codex, with 1,500 AI credits (~$15 of usage) each month.
- Pro+ ($39/mo) — everything in Pro plus premium models such as Opus, audit logs, and 7,000 credits (~$70 of usage) — about 4x Pro’s usage.
- Max ($100/mo) — the top individual tier with priority access to new models and 20,000 credits (~$200 of usage) for sustained agent-driven workflows.
Availability caveat (important in 2026): since April 20, 2026 GitHub has paused new sign-ups for Copilot Pro, Pro+, Max, and Student plans while it reworks them; existing subscribers can still upgrade, and Max upgrades opened June 1, 2026. If you can’t sign up for the tier you want, expect sign-ups to reopen “in the coming weeks” or ask for Copilot Business through an organization. Verified teachers, maintainers of popular open-source projects, and students can get premium Copilot access free.
GitHub Copilot for Teams and Enterprises
Organizations buy seats rather than subscriptions, billed monthly per granted seat at the end of each billing cycle:
- Business ($19/user/month) — Copilot across the IDE, CLI, and GitHub Mobile, plus centralized license management, policy controls, the cloud agent, and a broad model catalog. Available to organizations on GitHub Free or GitHub Team.
- Enterprise ($39/user/month) — everything in Business plus a larger pooled credit allowance, priority access to new models, organization-wide codebase indexing, a GitHub.com chat interface, and fine-tuned custom private models for inline suggestions. Requires GitHub Enterprise Cloud.
You can mix Business and Enterprise seats across organizations, and if a user holds both, only the higher-value Enterprise seat is billed. Both tiers include usage-based billing with pooled credits shared across the org, IP indemnity, and admin audit capabilities. If a user belongs to multiple organizations under one enterprise, the enterprise is billed once per cycle.
GitHub Copilot vs Microsoft 365 Copilot (Don’t Confuse Them)
The two “Copilots” from Microsoft solve different jobs. GitHub Copilot is the AI coding assistant inside VS Code, JetBrains, and other IDEs — priced at $10–$100/month for individuals or $19–$39/seat for orgs. Microsoft 365 Copilot is the productivity assistant embedded in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams, grounded in your Microsoft Graph data.
Microsoft 365 Copilot pricing after the July 1, 2026 update:
| Tier | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Copilot Chat | Free | Included with eligible Microsoft 365 plans; web-grounded, limited app integration |
| Copilot Business | $18–$21/user/mo | Add-on for SMBs up to 300 users; $18 promo July–Dec 2026 |
| Business Standard + Copilot | $23.50/user/mo | New permanent bundled SMB SKU |
| Business Premium + Copilot | $32/user/mo | New permanent bundled SMB SKU |
| Copilot Enterprise | $30/user/mo | Add-on on top of an E3/E5 base; all-in $69–$90/seat |
| M365 E7 (Frontier Suite) | $99/user/mo | Bundles E5 + Copilot + Agent 365 + Entra Suite |
Microsoft also raised Microsoft 365 base-suite prices on July 1, 2026 (Business Standard $12.50→$14, E3 $36→$39, E5 $57→$60), which pushes the realistic all-in cost of an Enterprise Copilot seat to $69–$90 — much more than the $30 sticker. The same $30 add-on price was explicitly excluded from the increase.
Budgeting for GitHub Copilot: Real-World Costs
The biggest 2026 budgeting mistake is treating the seat price as the total cost. Three things push the real number up:
- Credits on top of seats. Heavy chat and agent workflows exhaust included credits, and overage is billed per model token. A developer leaning on the cloud agent or premium models can spend meaningfully above the $19 Business seat price.
- Model choice matters. Premium models (e.g., Opus, GPT-5.6 family) consume credits at higher rates; lighter models stretch the same allowance. Watch promotional rates — GPT-5.6 Sol ran at 50% off standard rates through September 3, 2026.
- Code review overhead. Since June 1, 2026, Copilot code review spends GitHub Actions minutes in addition to credits.
Procurement guidance across 2026 studies is consistent: roll Copilot out to developers first, use a seat reclaim audit every quarter (recovering 20–35% of seat spend by reassigning dormant seats), and set per-user credit budgets from day one. For a wider comparison of coding assistants, including Cursor, Copilot, Codex, and Claude Code, see our AI coding assistants hub, and compare Copilot against standalone options like ChatGPT in our 2026 AI assistant face-off.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does GitHub Copilot cost per month?
Copilot Free is $0, Copilot Pro is $10/month for individuals, Copilot Business is $19/user/month for organizations, and Copilot Enterprise is $39/user/month. Individual power users can choose Pro+ at $39/month or Max at $100/month.
Is GitHub Copilot free in 2026?
Yes — the Free tier includes 2,000 code completions per month plus limited chat and agent usage. Students, teachers, and maintainers of popular open-source projects can get paid Copilot features free.
What are GitHub AI Credits?
AI Credits are GitHub’s usage-based billing currency (1 credit = $0.01). Since June 1, 2026 every plan includes a monthly credit allowance for chat, agents, code review, and the CLI; code completions remain unlimited on paid plans. Extra credits above your allowance are billed at month-end.
What is the difference between GitHub Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot?
GitHub Copilot is the coding assistant inside your IDE ($10–$100 individual, $19–$39/seat for orgs). Microsoft 365 Copilot is the productivity assistant in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams ($21–$30 add-on plus a required Microsoft 365 license).
Can I use Claude Code or Codex inside GitHub Copilot?
Yes. Copilot Pro and above include access to third-party agents such as Claude Code and Codex, with model selection and a shared monthly AI credit allowance.
