GitHub Copilot launches flex billing and $39 Max tier

GitHub Copilot is overhauling its individual pricing starting June 1, rolling out flex allotments for Pro ($10/month) and Pro+ ($24/month) plans and launching a Max tier at $39/month [GitHub Blog].

Pro and Pro+ users now pay per active minute — $0.12 — across GitHub.com and IDEs, with no fixed seat limits. Usage is billed hourly, removing rigid seat caps but exposing heavy users to costs exceeding $50/month, more than the Max tier.

Max offers unlimited usage and priority access to the latest models, including Copilot X and experimental agents. It runs on a new 72B-parameter model fine-tuned on internal Microsoft repositories and security advisories, reducing false-positive dependency suggestions by 41% in internal testing [GitHub Blog]. The model handles 95% of requests in under 100ms, up from 78% on the prior default.

Annual subscribers are grandfathered until renewal; new contracts follow the updated structure.

The shift reveals real usage costs: developers on Pro+ could pay more than Max users if they exceed 330 active hours monthly. GitHub is segmenting the market — Max targets consultants, open-source maintainers, and startup founders who need audit-ready code and faster SLAs. The 72B model isn’t just faster; it cuts insecure suggestions, reducing liability for solo developers shipping production code.

The pricing tiers now reflect a strategic lock-in: unlimited access is priced to push professionals into $39/month, making GitHub not just a tool, but a billed coding partner.