GitHub Copilot Pricing 2026
Five plans from free to $39/user/month. We break down exactly what each tier includes, annual vs monthly savings, the free tier limits, and which plan suits different developer profiles.
All 5 GitHub Copilot Plans Compared
| Feature | Free | Pro $10/mo | Pro+ $39/mo | Business $19/user | Enterprise $39/user |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | $0 | $10 | $39 | $19/user | $39/user |
| Annual price | Free | $100/yr (save $20) | $390/yr (save $78) | Monthly only | Monthly only |
| Code completions | 2,000/month | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Chat messages | 50/month | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Premium requests/mo | — | 300 | 1,500 | 300 | 1,000 |
| Model access | GPT-4o mini | GPT-4o, Claude Sonnet, Gemini 2.0 | GPT-4o, Claude Sonnet & Opus, o3, Gemini Pro | GPT-4o, Claude Sonnet | GPT-4o, Claude Sonnet & Opus, Custom |
| Agent mode | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Org management | — | — | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| SAML SSO | — | — | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Audit logs | — | — | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| IP indemnity | — | — | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Codebase indexing | — | — | — | — | ✓ |
| Fine-tuned models | — | — | — | — | ✓ |
Annual vs Monthly: Is the Commitment Worth It?
| Plan | Monthly billing | Annual billing | Annual savings | Savings % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | $0 | — |
| Pro | $120/yr ($10/mo × 12) | $100/yr | $20/year | 17% |
| Pro+ | $468/yr ($39/mo × 12) | $390/yr | $78/year | 17% |
| Business | $19/user/mo | Not available | — | — |
| Enterprise | $39/user/mo | Not available | — | — |
Break-even for annual Pro billing: If you use GitHub Copilot Pro for 10 or more months of the year, the annual plan ($100) is cheaper than monthly ($10 × 10 = $100). At 12 months, you save $20. The only risk is being locked in if you want to cancel mid-year — but there's no penalty for cancelling, you just lose access for the remainder of the paid period.
GitHub Copilot Free: What 2,000 Completions Actually Means
GitHub launched the free tier in late 2024, making it the most notable free AI coding assistant available. Here's what the limits mean in practice:
2,000 completions/month
A typical developer generates 5–15 completions per hour of active coding. At 8 hours/day, 5 days/week, that's ~25 days of light coding before hitting the limit. Casual coders (1–2 hours/day) will rarely hit it.
50 chat messages/month
The chat limit is the binding constraint for most users. At 50 questions/month, you get roughly 2 chat interactions per working day. Power users who rely on Copilot Chat for code explanation, debugging, and refactoring will exhaust this quickly.
GPT-4o mini only
The free tier uses GPT-4o mini, a faster but less capable model than GPT-4o (used in Pro). For basic completion suggestions, the quality difference is modest. For complex refactoring or nuanced code generation, Pro's access to GPT-4o and Claude Sonnet is noticeably better.
Who the free tier suits: Part-time coders, students learning to code, open-source contributors working on personal projects, and developers who primarily use GitHub Copilot for occasional completion suggestions rather than intensive chat. For daily professional development, Pro ($10/mo) is the practical choice.
Which Plan Is Right For You?
What Counts as a "Premium Request"?
The premium request system is the most confusing part of GitHub Copilot pricing. Here's the breakdown:
Does NOT use premium requests
- Standard inline code completions
- Chat messages using the default model (GPT-4o mini for Free, GPT-4o for Pro)
- Basic code explanation
- Tab-completion suggestions
DOES use premium requests
- Agent mode (multi-step agentic tasks)
- Switching to Claude Sonnet, Opus, o3, or Gemini Pro models
- Complex multi-file editing operations
- Some advanced Copilot Workspace features
When you run out of premium requests: Copilot switches to the default model (GPT-4o mini for Free, GPT-4o for Pro) for the rest of the month. Standard completions continue uninterrupted. Most professional developers on Pro report rarely hitting the 300 premium request limit unless they use agent mode heavily.
Free Access Programmes
Students — GitHub Student Developer Pack
Verified students at accredited educational institutions receive GitHub Copilot Pro free. Apply at education.github.com. Requires a valid .edu email or proof of enrolment. Renewed annually. Includes many other developer tools.
Verified Educators
Teachers and professors at accredited institutions can apply for free GitHub Copilot Pro access. Apply via the same GitHub Education portal. GitHub verifies credentials manually — approval takes 1–5 business days.
Open Source Maintainers
Maintainers of popular open-source projects can apply for free Copilot Pro access. GitHub evaluates based on project usage and community impact. Apply via github.com/features/copilot/plans.