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github-copilot-premium-requests.md

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title Overview of request-based billing (legacy)
shortTitle Billing overview (legacy)
allowTitleToDifferFromFilename true
intro Learn how premium requests in {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %} work, including usage measurement and managing your budget.
versions
feature
copilot
contentType reference
category
Understand product costs
redirect_from
/billing/concepts/product-billing/github-copilot-premium-requests

{% data reusables.billing.legacy-pru-annual-plans-applicability %}

Usage of {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %} is measured through a combination of licenses and monthly usage tracking. For more information about how license costs in {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %} work, see AUTOTITLE.

What are premium requests?

Some {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %} features use premium requests. Premium requests give you access to advanced models and additional AI features.

Examples include:

  • Using {% data variables.copilot.copilot_chat_short %} with premium models
  • Large context windows or advanced reasoning models
  • Features like {% data variables.copilot.copilot_cloud_agent %}
  • {% data variables.product.prodname_spark_short %} app creation

Each product's premium request usage is attributed to a premium request SKU:

  • {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %} premium requests - Chat, CLI, Code Review, Extensions, and Spaces
  • {% data variables.product.prodname_spark_short %} premium requests - {% data variables.product.prodname_spark_short %} app creation
  • {% data variables.copilot.copilot_cloud_agent %} premium requests - {% data variables.copilot.copilot_cloud_agent %} sessions

See AUTOTITLE for details on which models and features consume premium requests and their SKU attribution.

Note

{% data reusables.billing.pru-sku-split-notice %}

How usage of premium requests is measured

Usage of premium requests is tracked monthly and is based on the following factors.

Monthly allowance

  • Each plan includes a fixed number of premium requests per user per month.
  • Allowances vary by plan.
  • Allowances reset on the 1st of each month at 00:00:00 UTC.

Usage by premium models

  • Each interaction that uses a premium model consumes from your allowance.
  • Some models use multipliers, meaning a single interaction may count as multiple premium requests.
  • For example, advanced reasoning models may consume 5× or 20× the standard rate.
  • If you exceed your allowance and overages are enabled, extra usage is billed at the standard rate.

Usage by {% data variables.copilot.copilot_cloud_agent %}

When you use {% data variables.copilot.copilot_cloud_agent %}, including any {% data variables.copilot.copilot_custom_agents %}, both {% data variables.product.prodname_actions %} minutes and premium requests are consumed:

  • {% data variables.product.prodname_actions %} minutes come from your account’s monthly allowance of free minutes for {% data variables.product.github %}-hosted runners. This allowance is shared with all {% data variables.product.prodname_actions %} workflows. See AUTOTITLE.
  • Premium requests come from the monthly allowance associated with your {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %} license. This allowance is shared with other features, such as {% data variables.copilot.copilot_chat_short %}.

Each cloud agent session consumes one premium request. A session begins when you:

  • Prompt {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %} to undertake a task.
  • Assign {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %} to an issue

If you run out of free minutes or premium requests, and you have not set up billing, a message is displayed explaining why {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %} cannot work on the task.

{% data variables.copilot.copilot_cloud_agent %} uses a dedicated {% data variables.copilot.copilot_cloud_agent %} premium request SKU. This SKU still pulls from your monthly allowance of premium requests, but allows for more granular budget control and monitoring.

For more information about {% data variables.copilot.copilot_cloud_agent %} and {% data variables.copilot.copilot_custom_agents %}, see AUTOTITLE and AUTOTITLE.

Using more than your included premium requests

If you exceed your allowance, set a budget for additional premium requests or upgrade to a higher plan.

Paying for premium requests

Additional usage is charged to the payment method configured for your {% data variables.product.github %} account.

If you are billed through Azure, premium request usage appears on your Azure invoice. See AUTOTITLE.

Managing your budget for premium requests

You can set a budget in your personal billing settings to receive alerts when you reach 75%, 90%, or 100% of your budget. Setting a premium request budget depends on the level of granularity you need:

  • Bundled premium request budget - Combines all premium requests into a single budget (Recommended for most users)
  • Individual SKU budgets - Set separate budgets for each AI product (Copilot, {% data variables.product.prodname_spark_short %}, {% data variables.copilot.copilot_cloud_agent %})

Monitoring usage

  • Track your monthly usage in your IDE, in {% data variables.product.prodname_copilot_short %} settings on {% data variables.product.prodname_dotcom %}, or by downloading a usage report.
  • Usage reports show all premium requests, both within and beyond the allowance, and can be used to identify high-usage users.
  • Premium request analytics display usage by dedicated SKUs, providing detailed insights into which AI products consume your allowance.

For more information about monitoring your usage, see AUTOTITLE.