Copilot Billing – June 2026 Updates
On June 1, 2026, GitHub Copilot billing moved from a system of “premium request units” (PRUs) to usage-based billing (UBB). Base plan pricing has not changed, but rather than a monthly allotment of PRUs, users now receive a number of AI credits based on an exchange rate of $0.01 / credit. Credits will be consumed based on token usage, including input, output, and cached tokens, according to the published API rates for each model.
The overall result of this change is an increase in costs for Copilot usage, especially for more advanced models. To mitigate unintended over-usage by Copilot license holders, the OSPO has placed individual budgets on each user based on their monthly subscription type (Business or Enterprise). Due to a lack of administrative support tools on the GitHub side to fully support UBB, we are not able to fairly increase Copilot budget capacity at the cost center level at this time. We are keeping lines of communication open with GitHub and will reach out to all Copilot users as soon as we have the tools to support cost center-based budgets again.
Individual users can take actions to help get the most value from their token allocation, including:
- Choosing models wisely, based on need and cost. GitHub’s AUTO model can help select an appropriately sized model for a given task, and currently provides a 10% discount to model costs. Note that GitHub’s Auto model only utilizes GitHub’s version of the model and will not utilize any api keys that you provide.
- Learning about token optimization, via GitHub training or model-specific training.
“Bring your own API key” to Copilot, adding more model options to your IDE. Note that this integration is currently only available for Azure and OpenAI models, and users are still required to have an active monthly Copilot subscription. Users must still abide by Hopkins’ policies for responsible use of AI.
To learn more about the billing changes, the OSPO recorded a short webinar. The video is available below, and additional questions can always be sent to ospo@jhu.edu.
Copilot Models and Features
As Copilot continues to evolve, new models and features are added to the GitHub Enterprise platform, without any notice to the OSPO as Enterprise Admins. By default, all newly added models and features are disabled when they’re introduced, which means they won’t be available to your Organization until we enable them at the Enterprise level.
If you are the Owner of a GitHub Organization within the JHU Enterprise instance, and you would like access to a Copilot model or feature and get a notice that it’s disabled, please reach out to the OSPO via the form below and we’ll review the request and determine if the model or feature should be enabled.
In general, our approach is to enable models and features at the Enterprise level and then let each Organization Owner decide whether to make them available within their own Organization. Please note that by enabling something, the OSPO isn’t endorsing it or making any judgment about its quality, usefulness, or suitability for your work. Individual users are expected to follow all Johns Hopkins University data safety and handling best practices while using GitHub Enterprise. Data with PHI or PII should not be used with GitHub or GitHub Copilot.
More information about Microsoft and GitHub’s Privacy Policies around Copilot can be found at the following links:
GitHub Copilot data use for model training – March 2026 update
Privacy FAQ for Microsoft Copilot
GitHub General Privacy Statement
A full list of currently enabled Copilot models and features can be found in the OSPO’s GitHub Organization: https://github.com/JH-OSPO/copilot-enterprise-settings. Please note that this is an internal repository, and is available to JHU affiliates only.
GitHub Copilot Model or Feature Request Form
