GitHub Copilot: New AI Pricing Shocks Users

The recent change in pricing for GitHub Copilot, an artificial intelligence tool owned by Microsoft, has sparked an outcry among its users. Since June 1, the platform has adopted a token-based billing model, replacing the previous request system. This change has led to a significant increase in costs for some users, who have expressed their dissatisfaction on social media.

Under this new policy, usage costs are converted into AI credits, with each credit representing $0.01 of consumption. Subscribers receive a fixed number of base credits, supplemented by bonus credits depending on their subscription level. However, many users have reported quickly exhausting their monthly allocation, with some seeing their projected bills soar into the hundreds of dollars.

One user, subscribed to Copilot Pro+ for $39 per month, shared on Reddit that their bill could reach $847 next month. This situation has been compared to the strategy of companies like Uber, which initially offered low rates to attract customers before raising prices.

Despite the criticism, some users believe that this pricing simply reflects the costs of the APIs of the AI models used by GitHub Copilot. They suggest that users should better understand how the service works to optimize their credit usage.

Arun Chandrasekaran, an analyst at Gartner, sees this change as a harbinger of a broader trend toward consumption-based pricing models. According to him, the balance between companies' internal costs and pricing simplicity for customers will be crucial in the future. Mario Rodriguez, GitHub's product director, had already indicated in April that the current model was no longer viable due to rising costs associated with agentic AI.