AI costs how much? GitHub Copilot users react to new usage-based pricing system

Key Takeaways

• As that new pricing model goes into effect today, many GitHub Copilot users are reporting some extreme sticker shock as they realize just how quickly their previous “normal” usage is burning through their newly limited monthly allotment of AI credits.
• Across social media and forums, many Copilot users are sharing personal statistics showing how just a few hours of AI usage can now account for a large chunk of their new monthly subscription caps.
• For some users, it reportedly took less than a day to use up a month’s usage quota.
• GitHub said that the old system meant that “a quick chat question and a multi-hour autonomous coding session [could] cost the user the same amount,” forcing Copilot itself to “absorb much of the escalating inference cost behind that usage.” Indeed, some Copilot users have been sharing estimates from GitHub’s own tool showing that their previous monthly usage would rack up bills in the thousands of dollars under the new pricing plan.
• Credit: twhoff / Reddit Cost estimates like this show just how much GitHub was subsidizing power users’ Copilot habit in the past months.