# GitHub Copilot licenses Learn how licenses for Copilot work, including usage measurement and managing your budget. Usage of GitHub Copilot is measured through a combination of licenses and AI credits. See [Usage-based billing for individuals](/en/copilot/concepts/billing/usage-based-billing-for-individuals) and [Usage-based billing for organizations and enterprises](/en/copilot/concepts/billing/usage-based-billing-for-organizations-and-enterprises). ## Licenses for Copilot Copilot licenses are required for each user who uses Copilot. Licenses are available through different plans depending on your account type. | Account type | Options | | --------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Personal accounts** | | | **Organizations** | Copilot Business: $19 USD per user per month (billed monthly). | | **Enterprises** | Choose Copilot Business or Copilot Enterprise, or mix them across organizations. Both are billed monthly, pricing varies. | > \[!NOTE] If you have an active Copilot Pro, Copilot Pro+, or Copilot Max plan, and are then assigned a seat as part of a Copilot Business or Copilot Enterprise plan, your personal Copilot plan will be automatically canceled. You will receive a prorated refund for any remaining portion of your personal plan's current billing cycle. You will then be able to continue using Copilot according to the policies set by your company. ## Free use of Copilot There are several ways to use Copilot for free. ### Copilot Free * Provides limited access to Copilot features at no cost. * Includes a monthly allowance of completions and limited chat and agent usage. * Intended for **individual use only** (not suitable for organizations or enterprises). * For usage beyond the free plan limits, upgrade to Copilot Pro. ### Educational and open source benefits * Copilot Student offers free access to Copilot's premium features for verified students. See [Access GitHub Copilot for free as a student](/en/copilot/how-tos/copilot-on-github/set-up-copilot/enable-copilot/set-up-for-students). * Copilot Pro is free for verified teachers and maintainers of popular open source projects. See [Access Copilot Pro for free as a teacher or open source maintainer](/en/copilot/managing-copilot/managing-copilot-as-an-individual-subscriber/getting-started-with-copilot-on-your-personal-account/getting-free-access-to-copilot-pro-as-a-student-teacher-or-maintainer). ## How usage of Copilot licenses is measured Usage of Copilot licenses is measured by the number of seats used. ### Personal accounts * Upgrades take effect immediately, with proration applied for the remainder of the current billing cycle. * Downgrades take effect at the start of the next billing cycle and are generally not prorated. * Canceling a monthly plan keeps access until the end of the current billing cycle, with no proration. For details on billing and proration, see [Usage-based billing for individuals](/en/copilot/concepts/billing/billing-for-individuals). ### Organizations and enterprises * A seat is a license for one user. * Organizations and enterprises are billed for the number of assigned seats at the end of each monthly billing cycle. * If a user has seats in multiple organizations within the same enterprise, the enterprise is only billed once per cycle. * If both a Copilot Business and a Copilot Enterprise seat are assigned, only the enterprise seat is billed. For more information about seat assignment, see [GitHub Copilot seat assignment](/en/copilot/reference/copilot-billing/seat-assignment). ## Using more than your plan's included seats Individual plans are tied to a single account and can’t include additional seats. To license multiple users, upgrade to an organizational plan. For **organizations and enterprises**: * You can assign additional Copilot seats at any time. * Additional seats are billed immediately on a prorated basis for the rest of the current billing cycle. * Assigned users gain access to Copilot features right away. For details about how added seats are billed, see [Making changes to your GitHub Copilot license](/en/copilot/reference/copilot-billing/license-changes). ## Paying for Copilot licenses You pay for additional licenses using the payment method set up for your GitHub account. See [Managing your payment and billing information](/en/billing/how-tos/set-up-payment/manage-payment-info). ## Managing your budget for Copilot licenses To help manage your budget for Copilot licenses, consider the following strategies. ### Personal accounts * You can set budgets for your personal account to receive email alerts at 75%, 90%, and 100% of the budget. * Budgets help you monitor spending but do not stop license charges. > \[!NOTE] Additional usage may be capped. If you use all AI credits available on your plan, we recommend upgrading to a higher plan. For more information about using budgets to control spending, see [Setting up budgets to control spending on metered products](/en/billing/managing-your-billing/using-budgets-control-spending). ### Organizations and enterprises Owners and billing managers can set budgets at the user, organization, cost center, and enterprise level to monitor and control AI credits consumption. See [Getting started with budget controls](/en/copilot/tutorials/budgets/getting-started-with-budget-controls).