GitHub Copilot Premium Requests: The Dec 2 Rulebook

As of December 2, 2025, GitHub removed legacy $0 account‑level budgets for many enterprise and team accounts, changing how GitHub Copilot premium requests are controlled and billed. If you relied on that blanket “$0” budget to block overages, it’s gone; you must use the premium request paid usage policy and per‑feature budgets instead. Here’s what that means, how the allowances and multipliers really work, and the fastest way to keep your team shipping without surprise charges.

What exactly changed on December 2?

GitHub’s removal of legacy $0 account‑level budgets applies to enterprise and organization accounts created before August 22, 2025. Those static caps previously stopped premium requests the moment an org hit its monthly allowance. After today, control moves to a policy toggle (enabled to allow paid usage after the allowance, disabled to block it) and budgets you set explicitly per account and—importantly—per AI tool SKU. Pro and Pro+ individual plans aren’t part of this budget removal, though they still have allowances.

Why the change? GitHub is rolling out dedicated SKUs for each AI tool (for example, coding agent and Spark) so you can track and cap usage by feature rather than by one monolithic budget. That’s good for accountability, but it also means you must revisit how you set caps and who’s allowed to spend.

How GitHub Copilot premium requests work now

Start with the allowances. Copilot Business includes 300 premium requests per user per month. Copilot Enterprise includes 1,000 premium requests per user per month. These reset on the first of each month and cover “premium” features and models: agent mode with certain models, multi‑file edits, coding agent runs, Copilot code review, and interactions using non‑included models. If you blow past the allowance and your policy is set to enabled, overage charges apply; set it to disabled and premium usage is blocked until the next reset.

Model choice matters. Paid plans have unlimited chat and completions with included models (such as GPT‑4.1, GPT‑4o, and GPT‑5 mini), subject to rate limits. Premium models and some features consume premium requests with multipliers. For example, a model with a 1× multiplier burns one premium request; a heavy model at 10× consumes ten per prompt—and, if you’re in overage, costs 10 × the per‑request price.

Speaking of price: overages are billed at $0.04 per premium request, then the model multiplier is applied. So ten prompts on a 10× model would be 100 premium requests, or $4 in overage. That looks small on paper, but it scales fast across a 150‑seat squad running agents all day. Features can have fixed rates, too: for instance, Spark consumes a fixed number of premium requests per invocation, independent of model choice.

Why developers suddenly feel the pinch

Two practical reasons. First, agent workflows chain multiple steps, each counting as a request (or multiple, depending on the model). Second, teams often keep “auto” settings or allow high‑multiplier models for everyone, which quietly drains allowances. The result: allowances disappear by mid‑month, and if overage is enabled without budgets, finance gets an unwelcome surprise.

Is this an AI tax? Not if you manage it like a product

Here’s the thing: premium requests aren’t a penalty; they’re a meter. They nudge you to put structure around who can run costly agents and when. Treated like any other shared capability—build minutes, test runners, GPU hours—you can get predictable outcomes at a predictable cost. But that only happens if you put ownership, policies, and dashboards in place.

People Also Ask: quick answers you can share

Do paid Copilot plans still include unlimited chat?

Yes—with the included models. Paid plans get unlimited chat and completions using included models (rate limits may apply). Premium models, Copilot code review, coding agent, and certain other features use premium requests.

What happens to accounts created after Aug 22, 2025?

They never had the legacy $0 budget to begin with. Use the premium request policy and explicit budgets from day one.

How do multipliers change my cost?

Multipliers affect both allowance consumption and overage. A 10× model eats 10 requests per interaction; in overage, that’s $0.04 × 10 per interaction. It’s the fastest way to blow through a cap if left unrestricted.

Can we keep premium overage blocked entirely?

Yes. Set your premium request paid usage policy to disabled. Premium actions stop when allowances are exhausted, and your developers fall back to the included models and features.

The 60‑minute fix: stop bill shock, keep velocity

Set a timer for an hour. You can put guardrails in place today, and your developers won’t miss a beat.

0–10 minutes: Confirm your baseline

• Open your enterprise or org billing settings and locate the premium request paid usage policy. If you want to avoid any paid usage, set it to disabled now; you can re‑enable later with budgets.

• Check whether dedicated SKUs (such as coding agent and Spark) are visible in your usage/budgeting view. If you see them, plan to set caps per SKU, not just a single account budget.

10–25 minutes: Set smart budgets

• If you allow overage, create a monthly budget greater than $0, per account and per high‑risk SKU. Start small—think $50–$200 per 25–50 developers—then adjust.

• Add a budget ceiling per team or cost center so one project can’t starve the rest. If your finance systems expect cost codes, line up the new SKUs with your internal chart of accounts.

25–45 minutes: Segment power users and upgrade intentionally

• Pull last month’s usage report and find outliers. Developers consistently over 800 premium requests/month are often cheaper to move to Copilot Enterprise (1,000/month included) than to pay Business overages. Create a separate org for these users and assign the Enterprise license there.

• For the rest, keep them on Business with tight budgets. Track both groups for 30 days and reassess.

45–55 minutes: Turn on usage‑savvy defaults

• Enforce “auto model selection” where possible; it can apply a small multiplier discount and keeps most prompts on efficient models.

• Allow high‑multiplier models (the ones that consume 10× or more) only for a small, named group—staff engineers, platform, or security. Everyone else uses standard models for daily chat and agents.

• If Spark is enabled, treat it like a special tool: fixed rate per invocation means it deserves its own budget and a clear use policy.

55–60 minutes: Communicate and train

• Ask developers to pick the correct “Usage billed to” entity in their IDE/Chat so requests land on the right cost center.

• Share a one‑pager: when to switch models, when to run the coding agent vs. regular chat, and who to ping if a budget cap blocks work near a deadline.

A practical framework for ongoing control

Think of Copilot like any other shared compute. This lightweight framework keeps spend predictable while protecting velocity:

• Entitlements: Default every developer to Business. Maintain a small Enterprise pool for team leads, reviewers, and folks shipping critical infra. Review monthly.
• Guardrails: Policy disabled by default (block overage). Enable overage with caps only for teams mid‑release or with a live incident.
• Model tiers: Tier 0 included models for daily chat; Tier 1 models (1× multiplier) for targeted tasks; Tier 2 (10× and up) by exception.
• Budgets: Per account and per SKU. Start low, ratchet up where justified by lead time reduction or quality metrics.
• Evidence: Tie budget increases to measurable outcomes—PR lead time, escaped defects, MTTR on incidents, or throughput on epics.

Cost math you can share with finance

Finance leaders hate fuzzy estimates, so translate usage to dollars with simple examples:

• A 50‑person squad on Copilot Business gets 15,000 included premium requests (50 × 300). If the team uses an extra 10,000 premium requests on a 1× model, overage is about $400 (10,000 × $0.04). The same usage on a 10× model would be roughly $4,000. That’s the difference a policy makes.

• One developer running 1,200 premium requests/month: on Business that’s 900 covered across three months and 300 overage per month if they keep pace. If they’re steady above 800, move them to Enterprise for the extra headroom and fewer interrupts.

Gotchas and edge cases I’ve seen in rollouts

• Model drift in IDEs: Developers switch to a heavy model for a tricky refactor and never switch back. Enforce sensible defaults and time‑boxed elevations.

• Agent loops: Long‑running agent tasks can chain prompts. Cap agent run time or steps in policy to avoid accidental burns.

• Multi‑org confusion: If a developer belongs to multiple organizations, the “Usage billed to” dropdown decides which entity pays. Train for this, or you’ll misattribute spend.

• End‑of‑month crunch: Allow a small overage buffer during release week, then cut back after the push. Communicate the window and the reason.

How this intersects with your platform roadmap

Premium requests are ultimately a capacity planning problem. Treat your Copilot SKUs like mini‑services: SLOs (fast feedback during code review), budgets, and a defined on‑call for exceptions. If you’re already building agents on cloud providers, bring the same discipline. Our write‑up on structuring agent programs over a quarter pairs well with what you need here—see a practical 90‑day plan for agents for ideas on governance, telemetry, and iteration cycles.

Policy patterns that work

Here are three policy templates that have worked for teams of different maturity levels:

Foundational (1–30 devs): Copilot Business for everyone, overage disabled. Auto model selection on. No access to 10× models. Monthly check‑in on usage, adjust caps only if blocking a critical milestone.

Scaling (30–150 devs): Business for most; Enterprise for reviewers and staff engineers. Overage enabled with tight per‑SKU caps for coding agent and Spark. High‑multiplier models allowed for a named group in a separate org.

Advanced (150+ devs): Enterprise for platform and security; Business for product teams. Per‑team per‑SKU budgets with alerts at 50/75/100%. A small emergency pool controlled by engineering leadership for end‑of‑quarter pushes.

Where your developers will feel real benefits

When you tune policies, you actually reduce friction: the right people keep access to code review and the coding agent during crunch time, while everyone else gets unlimited chat on included models for day‑to‑day work. That’s how you increase throughput without surprise costs. In practice, I’ve seen teams cut PR lead time by 20–30% once code review runs reliably for the folks merging the most changes.

What to do next (today)

• Open policies and set premium request paid usage to the stance you want right now (disable to block, enable with caps to control).

• Create at least two budgets: one for coding agent, one for Spark. Start tiny; grow with evidence.

• Identify users over 800 requests/month and move them to an Enterprise‑licensed org.

• Lock high‑multiplier models to a named, small group. Make auto model selection the default.

• Publish a one‑pager for developers: how to choose models, how to set “Usage billed to,” and who to contact when they hit a cap.

Need a hand?

If you want help right‑sizing licenses, caps, and model policies, our team has done this across startups and large enterprises. See how we structure Copilot rollouts and guardrails, browse a few relevant case studies, or reach out via our contact page. If you want a deeper dive on the switch itself, check out our earlier note on the Dec 2 premium request change.

FAQ for platform and finance leaders

Will this increase our Copilot bill immediately?

Not if your policy is set to block overage. Costs rise only when you enable paid usage after allowances and set budgets. The key is to enable selectively and review weekly.

How do we budget for Q1?

Use the last two months of usage as a baseline. Assume 10–20% growth in premium requests if you’re rolling out code review or coding agent. Budget with buffers per SKU, not one giant pot, so you can tune without penalizing unrelated teams.

Can we push all work to included models?

For daily chat and many completions, yes. But code review and some agent tasks benefit from premium models. The trick is scoping those runs to the people and moments where the ROI is clear: PRs, migrations, and incident response.

Developer tips to stretch allowances

• Keep routine chat on included models; switch to a premium model only for complex refactors or code review.

• Use agent workflows intentionally: set a clear objective and time‑box runs. Don’t let an agent “explore” for hours.

• Prefer auto model selection to gain small multiplier discounts and better defaults.

• When pair‑programming, consolidate prompts into fewer, higher‑quality requests rather than many small ones.

Executive checklist: week one after Dec 2

• Policies verified and documented? Yes/No.

• Budgets created for account and for key SKUs (coding agent, Spark)? Yes/No.

• Enterprise seats assigned to users over 800 requests/month? Yes/No.

• High‑multiplier models restricted to a small group? Yes/No.

• Alerts at 50/75/100% usage wired to Slack/email? Yes/No.

• Monthly review on usage and impact scheduled? Yes/No.

Zooming out

The Dec 2 change looks like a billing tweak, but it’s really a maturity test. Teams that treat AI like a first‑class platform capability—entitlements, guardrails, evidence, and iteration—will get faster reviews, safer refactors, and predictable spend. Teams that don’t will either clamp down too hard and lose speed, or spend freely without outcomes. Choose the first path. It starts with a policy toggle, a couple of budgets, and one hour well spent today.