Developers are expressing widespread frustration with Microsoft’s new usage-based billing for GitHub Copilot, reporting that they burned through months of allocated AI credits within hours of the system’s launch.
The backlash centers on Copilot Pro+, which costs $39 per month and provides a fixed pool of AI credits. One developer reported depleting approximately 8% of their monthly allowance in just two hours under the new billing system. “At this rate, my 7,000-unit quota will be depleted in less than two days,” they wrote on GitHub’s user forum.
User dissatisfaction has grown since the changes took effect on Monday. Many report unexpectedly high credit consumption, with one developer stating that a single project change consumed over $6 worth of credits. “Not after a day of usage. Not after dozens of prompts. After ONE request,” the developer said. “I understand that large projects require context, but this level of consumption feels completely unreasonable and impossible to predict.”
Microsoft announced the shift from monthly subscriptions to usage-based pricing in April, claiming GitHub Copilot had evolved into “far more complex, agentic workflows that consume far more compute.” The company stated the change was designed to “deliver a more sustainable and reliable product experience by aligning pricing to actual usage and costs.”
Under the new system, each request is dynamically priced based on the model used, request complexity, input size, and output generated. Users can access a range of AI models within their development tools, but now face unpredictable costs compared to the previous flat rate of $10 per month for Copilot Pro or $39 per month for Pro+.
One Reddit user described spending 1,180 credits—16% of their monthly Pro+ allowance—in a single session while testing Claude 4.0 Opus to fix minor website issues. “Gone. For basically nothing,” they wrote.
The negative sentiment has driven some users to abandon Copilot entirely, turning to alternatives like Anthropic’s direct platform, OpenAI, or third-party tools such as RooCode, LM Studio, and OpenRouter. “OpenRouter offers a similar set of advantages that Copilot has over other providers,” one user noted. “It can be used within the same VS Code interface. Plus it has more models and credit rolls-over for up to a year.”
A GitHub spokesperson confirmed the implementation of usage-based billing to The Register, stating: “Pricing for GitHub Copilot now reflects actual usage with spending limits, usage dashboards, and model selection available to help manage costs. We’re also introducing Copilot Max for users who need more capacity.”