From 1 Oct 2026 existing card and PayPal Copilot Business and Enterprise customers pay for assigned seats upfront. List prices are unchanged; revoked seats get no refund.
From 1 October 2026, GitHub bills Copilot Business and Copilot Enterprise seats upfront for existing customers who pay by credit card or PayPal, at the start of each customer's next billing cycle. List prices did not change. As before, revoking a seat does not earn a prorated refund. GitHub announced the change in a 28 August changelog post. The change affects organization and enterprise admins who manage seats on those payment methods.
What changed
Per GitHub's post, all new Business or Enterprise seat assignments now require payment for each seat before the user gets Copilot access. At the start of the next billing cycle, every assigned seat incurs an upfront charge. For existing card and PayPal customers, GitHub's post says this starts on 1 October 2026, so the charge lands at the start of each customer's next cycle from that date, not necessarily on 1 October itself. GitHub also said it would start re-enabling sign-ups for new card and PayPal customers from 1 September, with stronger account vetting.
GitHub says included usage may be prorated across the month to match seat proration, and that if you exceed included usage, additional payment may be required to keep using Copilot.
Dates in the announcement and the follow-up:
| Date | What |
|---|---|
| 28 Aug | GitHub announces the billing and policy changes |
| 1 Sep | Sign-ups for new card/PayPal customers to reopen (per the announcement) |
| 28 Sep | Code review default effort becomes Balanced |
| 1 Oct | Upfront seat billing starts for existing card/PayPal customers |
| 2 Oct | Code review REST and GraphQL API support announced |
What stays the same
- Prices are unchanged. GitHub's plans documentation lists Copilot Business at $19 per granted seat per month (1,900 AI credits per user) and Copilot Enterprise at $39 (3,900 credits).
- Seats added mid-cycle are still prorated from the assignment date to the end of the cycle.
- Revoking a seat still does not produce a prorated refund; the removal shows in your next monthly billing cycle.
- Spend controls, usage tracking and purchases of extra AI credits remain. Usage beyond the pooled allowance is billed at $0.01 per AI credit.
- Code completions and next edit suggestions are not billed in credits.
Cost math
Seat removed mid-month: still paid. $950 = 50 × $19 at list price (TF arithmetic).
The list price is the same, so the effect is timing and refunds. A team of 50 Business seats costs $950 a month at list (50 x $19); 50 Enterprise seats cost $1,950. Under upfront billing that amount is charged at the start of the cycle for assigned seats. Because revoking a seat does not generate a prorated refund and shows up only in the next monthly cycle, a seat removed mid-month is still paid for that month. This is our arithmetic from GitHub's list prices, not a GitHub figure. Teams that churn contractors or trial seats frequently will see the most waste.
| Before | From 1 Oct (card/PayPal) | |
|---|---|---|
| When a seat is paid | Not stated in the post | Upfront, at the start of the next billing cycle |
| Seat added mid-cycle | Prorated | Still prorated, paid before access |
| Seat revoked mid-cycle | No prorated refund; removal shows in the next cycle | Unchanged |
Related change: code review default
GitHub also changed the default Copilot code review effort from Lite to Balanced on 28 September. Organizations and repositories that explicitly selected Lite kept it. GitHub confirmed on 2 October that the change took effect and that code review can now be requested through REST and GraphQL APIs with a per-request effort level, generally available on Pro, Pro+, Max, Business and Enterprise. Because included usage is metered in AI credits, a heavier default may use more of the pool; GitHub's posts do not quantify the difference.
What admins should do
- Audit assigned seats before the next billing cycle and remove unused ones; removal will not be refunded but stops the next charge.
- Time seat assignments carefully; new seats are paid before access begins.
- Check spend controls and AI credit budgets, since overage is billed at $0.01 per credit.
- If you want Lite reviews, set it explicitly. The 2 October post gives the paths: enterprise, AI controls > Agents > Copilot code review; organization and repository, Copilot > Code review; personal, profile > Copilot settings > Copilot > Code review. Settings at a lower level override the level above.
- Review the unified Copilot policy for Chat on github.com, GitHub Mobile and cloud agent under Copilot settings on github.com > Copilot cloud agent. GitHub's 28 August post said the unified experience would launch no earlier than 28 September, enabled by default, with chat retention extended from 28 days to the life of the account; opting out removes Copilot on github.com and GitHub Mobile.
What is unclear
- GitHub's posts do not say whether invoiced (non-card) customers are affected; the announcement is scoped to card and PayPal.
- The exact timing of the unified Copilot experience launch is not confirmed in the sources we read.
- GitHub does not say how included usage proration will work in practice.
For individual plans, see our earlier coverage of Copilot Pro vs Pro+. Copilot is also retiring six models on 19 October.