Microsoft’s GitHub announced a series of changes to GitHub Copilot’s Individual plans, including pausing new sign-ups, tightening usage limits, and adjusting model availability. Microsoft is saying that the shift is needed for ongoing efforts to ensure service reliability and a sustainable Copilot experience for all users.
In their blog post, GitHub said
“We’ve heard your frustrations about usage limits and model availability, and we need to do a better job communicating the guardrails we are adding—here’s what’s changing and why.
1. New sign-ups for GitHub Copilot Pro, Pro+, and Student plans are paused. Pausing sign-ups allows us to serve existing customers more effectively.
2. We are tightening usage limits for individual plans. Pro+ plans offer more than 5X the limits of Pro. Users on the Pro plan who need higher limits can upgrade to Pro+. Usage limits are now displayed in VS Code and Copilot CLI to make it easier for you to avoid hitting these limits.
3. Opus models are no longer available in Pro plans. Opus 4.7 remains available in Pro+ plans. As we announced in our changelog, Opus 4.5 and Opus 4.6 will be removed from Pro+.”
GitHub says that it is improving transparency by having VS Code and Copilot CLI both display your available usage when you’re approaching a limit. The company also has some advice and tips to help avoid hitting usage limits on its site.
GitHub made it a point to say why they are doing this
“We’ve seen usage intensify for all users as they realize the value of agents and subagents in tackling complex coding problems. These long-running, parallelized workflows can yield great value, but they have also challenged our infrastructure and pricing structure: it’s now common for a handful of requests to incur costs that exceed the plan price! These are our problems to solve. The actions we are taking today enable us to provide the best possible experience for existing users while we develop a more sustainable solution.”
GitHub has offered no information on when they will unpause signups at the time for the Student, Pro, and Pro+ plans. It’s important to note that Copilot Free remains open for new signups, and existing users can still upgrade between plans. Copilot Pro and Pro+ subscribers have until May 20th to seek a refund if they’re unhappy with the changes.