As of October 2026, GitHub Copilot costs $0 on Free, $10 a month on Pro, $39 a month on Pro+ and $100 a month on Max for individuals. For companies, Copilot Business is $19 per granted seat a month and Copilot Enterprise is $39 per granted seat a month, all in US dollars.
GitHub Copilot is the AI coding assistant built into GitHub, and it's the one most small software teams meet first. The headline prices look simple, but Copilot now runs on GitHub AI Credits, so what you can do each month depends on the credit allowance that comes with your plan, not just the subscription itself.
GitHub Copilot plans side by side
These are the prices on GitHub's own plans page and in its documentation, as of October 2026.
| Plan | Price | Monthly AI credits | Who it's for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | A limited allowance | Trying Copilot as an individual |
| Student | Free for verified students | A limited allowance | Students |
| Pro | $10 a month | 1,000 base plus 500 flex | Individuals doing medium agent tasks |
| Pro+ | $39 a month | 3,900 base plus 3,100 flex | Complex tasks and premium models |
| Max | $100 a month | 10,000 base plus 10,000 flex | Sustained, high-volume work |
| Business | $19 per granted seat a month | 1,900 per user, pooled | Organisations |
| Enterprise | $39 per granted seat a month | 3,900 per user, pooled | Companies on GitHub Enterprise Cloud |
How GitHub AI Credits work
GitHub says one AI credit is worth $0.01. You spend credits when you chat with Copilot or hand work to its agents, and the amount depends on the model you pick and how complex the task is. A quick question to a light model uses a fraction of a credit, while a long agent session on a frontier model across many files uses far more.
Here's the part that matters for your bill: code completions and next edit suggestions don't use credits at all. GitHub says they stay unlimited on every paid plan. So if most of your Copilot use is autocomplete in your editor, Pro covers you comfortably. If you lean on agent mode, code review and the cloud agent, watch your credit balance.
Each individual plan has two parts. The base credits match the plan price, and the flex allotment is extra usage on top. GitHub's plans page shows Pro with $15 of total credits a month, Pro+ with $70 and Max with $200, but it also says flex allotments may change over time, so treat the base number as the one you can count on.
What the free plan gives you
- No credit card needed to start.
- Up to 2,000 code completions a month, according to GitHub's FAQ.
- Limited chat and agent usage, with automatic model selection only.
- Copilot CLI and agent mode are supported.
- Only available to individual developers who don't already get Copilot through an organisation or enterprise.
GitHub also gives Pro free to verified teachers and maintainers of popular open source projects, and verified students get the Student plan at no charge.
Copilot Business and Enterprise for teams
Business and Enterprise work differently from the personal plans. Each licence adds its credits to a shared pool for the whole organisation, so a heavy user can draw on credits a quieter colleague didn't use. GitHub's documentation says usage beyond the pool is charged at $0.01 per AI credit.
Admins decide whether that extra paid usage is allowed. If it isn't, Copilot pauses until the next billing cycle. Enterprise needs GitHub Enterprise Cloud, and GitHub says Copilot isn't currently available for GitHub Enterprise Server.
The data question business owners miss
This is worth knowing before you put a team on personal plans. GitHub's FAQ says that for individual subscribers on Free, Pro and Pro+, it may use Copilot interaction data, including prompts, suggestions and code snippets, to train and improve AI models. You can opt out in your settings at any time without losing features. Business and Enterprise data is handled under GitHub's Data Protection Agreement instead.
If your developers work on client code, that alone is a good reason to buy Business seats rather than letting everyone expense a personal plan.
Choosing the right Copilot plan
- Start on Free and use it for a few weeks to see how much you lean on chat and agents.
- Move to Pro if you code most weeks. Unlimited completions and 1,000 base credits cover most solo developers.
- Step up to Pro+ only when you hit your credit limit regularly or need premium models.
- For a team of two or more, compare Business seats with personal plans, because of pooled credits and the data terms.
- Check your usage and reset date in your Copilot settings before you upgrade.
If you're still deciding between coding assistants, my comparisons of Cursor and GitHub Copilot and Claude Code and GitHub Copilot cover how they feel in daily work, and these GitHub Copilot prompts help you get more from each credit.
Want AI doing the heavy lifting in your marketing?
I build the systems that handle the boring 80 percent, so you get your week back. Done properly, with the human kept in.
Where Copilot works
GitHub lists Copilot in Visual Studio Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains IDEs, Xcode, Vim, Neovim, Zed and Eclipse, plus the terminal, a desktop app, the web, mobile, Slack and Teams. GitHub also lists handing tasks to third-party coding agents such as Claude and OpenAI Codex, which it marks as a preview, though its docs say the Student plan excludes third-party agents.
My verdict
For a solo founder or freelancer who codes most weeks, Pro at $10 a month is the sensible starting point, because completions are unlimited and the base credits handle everyday chat. Only pay for Pro+ or Max once your usage settings show you're running out. For any business with staff writing code, go straight to Business at $19 per seat: the pooled credits, admin limits and data protection terms are worth more than the few dollars you'd save on personal plans.
Copilot isn't the only GitHub bill to watch, and our guide to GitHub Actions and Jenkins explains who gets charged when a workflow runs.
Frequently asked questions
How much is GitHub Copilot a month?
As of October 2026, GitHub lists Copilot Pro at $10 a month, Pro+ at $39 and Max at $100, with a Free plan at $0.
How much is GitHub Copilot for business?
GitHub lists Copilot Business at $19 per granted seat a month and Copilot Enterprise at $39 per granted seat a month.
Is GitHub Copilot free?
Yes, there's a Free plan with limited chat and agent usage and up to 2,000 completions a month. Verified students get the Student plan free, and verified teachers and popular open source maintainers can get Pro free.
What is a GitHub AI Credit worth?
GitHub says one AI credit equals $0.01. Credits are used for chat and agent work, and the amount depends on the model and the task.
Do code completions use AI credits?
No. GitHub says code completions and next edit suggestions don't use credits and stay unlimited on every paid plan.
What happens when a business runs out of Copilot credits?
On Business and Enterprise, admins choose whether extra paid usage is allowed. If it isn't, Copilot pauses until the next cycle.
Does GitHub train on my Copilot code?
For Free, Pro and Pro+ subscribers, GitHub says it may use interaction data to train models unless you opt out. Business and Enterprise data falls under its Data Protection Agreement.
