GitHub Copilot Premium Request Limits: What Changes May 5, 2026
Starting May 5, 2026, GitHub will enforce hard limits on premium requests across all Copilot plans. Once you exceed your monthly allocation, each additional premium request costs $0.04. Here is what every plan gets and what it means for your bill.
Premium Request Limits by Plan
| Plan | Monthly Price | Premium Requests/mo | Overage Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 50 | N/A (hard cap) |
| Pro | $10/mo | 300 | $0.04/request |
| Pro+ | $39/mo | 1,500 | $0.04/request |
| Business | $19/user/mo | 300/user | $0.04/request |
| Enterprise | $39/user/mo | 1,000/user | $0.04/request |
What Counts as a "Premium Request"?
Not all Copilot interactions cost the same. Standard code completions (the inline suggestions as you type) are unlimited on all paid plans and do not count toward premium limits. Premium requests are the more powerful features:
- Agent mode — multi-step coding tasks, file edits, terminal commands
- Chat with premium models — Claude Sonnet 4.6, GPT-4.1, Gemini 3 Pro
- Coding agents — async agents that work on issues and PRs
- Code review — AI-powered PR review
Different models have different multipliers. A request using Claude Sonnet 4.6 may count as 1 premium request, while a request using a more expensive model could count as 2 or more. GitHub publishes exact multipliers in their documentation.
What This Actually Costs: Real-World Scenarios
Light User (Pro plan, ~100 premium requests/mo)
You are well within the 300 limit. No change. Total cost: $10/mo.
Moderate User (Pro plan, ~500 premium requests/mo)
You exceed the limit by 200 requests. Overage: 200 x $0.04 = $8/mo. Total cost: $18/mo. At this point, upgrading to Pro+ ($39/mo for 1,500 requests) is not yet worth it.
Heavy User (Pro plan, ~1,000 premium requests/mo)
Overage: 700 x $0.04 = $28/mo. Total cost: $38/mo. You are essentially paying Pro+ price without Pro+ features. Upgrade to Pro+.
The Break-Even Point
Pro + overages equals Pro+ cost when:
$10 + (X - 300) x $0.04 = $39
(X - 300) x $0.04 = $29
X - 300 = 725
X = 1,025 premium requests/mo
If you consistently use more than 1,025 premium requests per month, Pro+ is cheaper than Pro with overages.
Team Scenario (Business plan, 10 developers)
Each developer gets 300 premium requests. If your team averages 450 per developer:
Base: 10 x $19 = $190/mo
Overage: 10 x 150 x $0.04 = $60/mo
Total: $250/mo ($25/developer)
That is a 32% increase over the sticker price. For teams, it is worth monitoring usage closely and setting spending limits through the admin dashboard.
How Does Copilot Compare Now?
With overage pricing, Copilot's effective cost depends heavily on usage. Here is how it stacks up against alternatives at different usage levels:
| Tool | Light Use | Heavy Use | Usage Model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copilot Pro | $10/mo | $30-50/mo | 300 included + $0.04/overage |
| Cursor Pro | $20/mo | $20/mo | 500 fast requests (then slow) |
| Windsurf Pro | $20/mo | $20/mo | Fixed daily/weekly quota |
| Claude Code (Max 5x) | $100/mo | $100/mo | 5x Pro usage cap |
The key difference: Copilot now has variable costs while Cursor and Windsurf cap your bill at a fixed amount (though they throttle you instead). Which is better depends on whether you prefer predictable bills or prefer paying for exactly what you use.
Compare all plans side-by-side with our calculator →
What Should You Do Before May 5?
- Check your current usage. Go to github.com/settings/copilot and look at your premium request count for the current billing cycle.
- Set a spending limit. GitHub allows org admins to set a monthly spending cap for overages. Do this before May 5 to avoid surprise bills.
- Consider your plan. If you are on Pro and routinely use 500+ premium requests, either upgrade to Pro+ or evaluate alternatives like Cursor or Windsurf that have flat-rate pricing.
- Watch model multipliers. Using cheaper models (GPT-4o mini) costs fewer premium requests than premium models (Claude Sonnet 4.6, GPT-4.1). Adjust your default model if budget matters.
Bottom Line
For light users (under 300 premium requests/mo), nothing changes — Copilot Pro remains one of the cheapest options at $10/mo. For heavy users, the effective cost can climb significantly. The $0.04/request overage is fair pricing, but it does remove the "all-you-can-eat" feel that Copilot had before.
The biggest impact will be on teams. A 10-person team with moderate-to-heavy usage could see $50-100/mo in overages on top of the base subscription. Org admins should set spending limits now.