GitHub Copilot flips to AI Credits (usage billing) — June 1, 2026

What happened

What happened: GitHub moved all Copilot plans from premium-request counting to GitHub AI Credits (token-based). Completions / next-edit stay unlimited on paid plans; agent, chat, coding agent, and related surfaces burn credits. Seat list prices held (Pro/Pro+/Business/Enterprise) while included credit pools define how far agent work goes. Tool impact: Copilot stops feeling like a flat autocomplete tax and starts feeling like an agent budget. Teams that live in PR review + agent loops will hit credits first; tab-complete-heavy users may barely notice. Update 2026-10-02 (GitHub Changelog): Opus 4.7, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Gemini 3.6 Flash, and Kimi K2.7 Code are deprecated in Copilot; suggested replacements are Opus 5.5, Gemini 3.8 Flash, and Kimi K3. Copilot Enterprise admins may need to enable replacements via model policies. Separately, since Sep 28, 2026, Copilot code review Default effort resolves to Balanced (explicit Lite stays Lite) — check effort/credit burn on auto-reviews; don’t assume Balanced costs more unless your meter shows it.

Tool impact

github-copilot cursor claude-code codex

Switch or not?

As of 7 Oct 2026: don’t rip Copilot if GitHub is still your gravity — set per-user AI Credit budgets, migrate workflows off retired models (Opus 5.5 / Gemini 3.8 Flash / Kimi K3), and confirm Enterprise model policies. Switch (or add Cursor/Claude Code) only if agent work is the daily job and credits throttle you before PRs ship. For code review, pin Lite explicitly if Balanced depth isn’t worth the burn on routine PRs.

Money / risk

Overage + Actions double-metering on Copilot code review can surprise finance. Promotional team credit boosts (reported through Aug 2026) expire — model your September bill, not June's promo math. Oct 2026 model-picker churn: Enterprise gaps if replacements stay policy-disabled. Code review Balanced-as-default (since Sep 28) — watch credit burn vs Lite; GitHub docs don’t publish a fixed $/effort premium, so verify on your meter.

Sources (multi-channel)

GitHub, docs, blogs, video — not a single-platform dump.

github GitHub Changelog — Selected models in GitHub Copilot deprecated (Oct 2, 2026)
Opus 4.7 / Gemini 3.5+3.6 Flash / Kimi K2.7 Code retired; replacements Opus 5.5, Gemini 3.8 Flash, Kimi K3.
github GitHub Changelog — Copilot code review API + Balanced default (Oct 2, 2026)
Balanced is default effort since Sep 28, 2026; explicit Lite respected. Check effort/credit burn.
blog GitHub Blog — Copilot moving to usage-based billing (AI Credits)
Original AI Credits / seat framing for this card.

Source

GitHub Blog · verify independently