GitHub Copilot Costs Nearly Doubling Week-Over-Week Since Jan.
Internal docs reveal Microsoft plans to shift GitHub Copilot to token-based billing as running costs surge.
Internal Microsoft documents reveal that the week-over-week cost of running GitHub Copilot has nearly doubled since January. The company is planning to eventually shift the AI coding assistant from its current request-based billing model to one based on tokens.
The documents also indicate Microsoft plans to temporarily suspend individual account signups for the service.
The shift to token-based billing would represent a significant change in how developers pay for Copilot. Request-based pricing charges per interaction, while token-based billing meters usage by the volume of text processed — a model increasingly common across AI services.
The revelations come from reporting by Edward Zitron, who obtained the internal documents detailing Microsoft's Copilot cost trajectory and strategic plans for the product's billing future.
No timeline has been specified for when the billing transition would take effect.