GitHub Copilot drops Opus 4.8, Opus 5 and GPT-5.6 Terra on 16 November: what each plan switches to

GitHub will remove three models from every Copilot experience on 16 November 2026: Claude Opus 4.8, Claude Opus 5 and GPT-5.6 Terra. The notice, published 15 October, names Claude Opus 5.5 as the replacement for both Opus models, and GPT-6.1 Sol or GPT-6 Luna for Terra. It follows the retirement of six models on 19 October, so teams that pinned a model face two migrations within weeks.

What replaces what

One exception: Opus 4.8 stays available to individual subscribers on annual plans. The notice says nothing more about how other individual plans are treated.

What each plan switches to

Business and Enterprise. GitHub says the suggested alternatives are enabled automatically under default model enablement. That does not happen if an admin turned the global default off or explicitly disabled the model; in that case the admin has to enable the replacements in Copilot model policies. The notice does not list which models each organization plan includes, so check your own policy page rather than assuming.

Individual plans. Here the plans differ. On GitHub's plans page, as read on 18 October, Claude Opus 5.5 and GPT-6.1 Sol are listed as not included on Copilot Pro. Both are listed as included on Pro+ and Max. GPT-6 Luna is listed as included on all three. The same page lists Terra as included on Pro and Opus 4.8 and Opus 5 as not included, so for a Pro user moving off Terra, Luna is the replacement the plan actually covers.

What the replacements cost

Copilot bills in AI credits, and one credit is $0.01. GitHub's models and pricing page lists per-token dollar rates and gives no multipliers. The credit column below is ThreatFrontier's conversion at 1 credit = $0.01, not a GitHub figure. Rates are per million tokens.

Output price per 1M tokens on Copilot: Opus 4.8 and Opus 5 at $25.00 against Opus 5.5 at $20.00, and GPT-5.6 Terra at $12.00 against Sol at $10.00 and Luna at $0.50.

Moving from either Opus to Opus 5.5 cuts both rates by 20 percent. Sol matches Terra on input and is cheaper on output. Luna costs a small fraction of either. Above 272K input tokens the rates rise: Terra to $4.00 in and $18.00 out, Sol to $4.00 and $15.00, Luna to $0.20 and $0.75.

Code review billing for organizations

On 8 October GitHub let organization owners bill members' Copilot code review to the organization that owns the repository, instead of to each member's own entitlement. Under the default, a review fails once the member's quota is used up. Organization billing needs AI Credits paid usage enabled; a budget is optional. A separate control lets owners restrict reviews to licences the organization or enterprise provides.

What to do before 16 November

• Find pinned references to the three models in integrations, scripts and editor settings, and move them to a supported model.
• Business and Enterprise admins: check whether default model enablement is on, or whether the models were explicitly disabled, and enable the replacements in model policies if needed.
• Pro users: the plans page lists Opus 5.5 and Sol as not included on Pro, so check the model picker before assuming the suggested replacement is there.
• Organizations using code review: decide whether reviews should bill to the organization, and whether to set a budget.
• Size your credit use before switching with our Pro vs Pro+ credits explainer.

Sources

• GitHub Changelog: Upcoming deprecation of selected GitHub Copilot models in mid-November
• GitHub Docs: Copilot models and pricing
• GitHub Docs: Plans for GitHub Copilot
• GitHub Changelog: Copilot code review, new organization billing options and controls