According to `bunx ccusage` I'm easily doing $250-400/day in "real" API costs on my $200/month plan. There's no way everybody else isn't going to do the same thing and completely change the industry again. Both beginner and advanced developers are already hooked on all this stuff and they all know it.
GitHub Copilot is moving to usage-based billing
181–190 of 583 posts
Re: GitHub Copilot is moving to usage-based billing
#182I liked copilot because I didn't have to think about tokens. I get hung up when having to think about the price of things, and its hard to think about the project at the same time I got to think about token usage like a gas bill. The usage system had its own issues, but having a set amount of requests was a very comfortable way to use a paid AI service.
Re: GitHub Copilot is moving to usage-based billing
#183I liked copilot because I didn't have to think about tokens. I get hung up when having to think about the price of things, and its hard to think about the project at the same time I got to think about token usage like a gas bill. The usage system had its own issues, but having a set amount of requests was a very comfortable way to use a paid AI service.
Sounds like you're a candidate for a local model. It's kinda nice not caring what the token count means except as to compaction.
Re: GitHub Copilot is moving to usage-based billing
#184Well. Just got an email from GitHub saying they'll be raising prices for Co Pilot. "To keep up with the way you use Copilot, we're transitioning to usage-based billing, and we want to give you enough time to prepare." Man, it was fun. Having my tokens subsidized by Microsoft. If the prices go up to much I guess I'll try Deepseek again.
Link to the announcement for anyone else like me who hasn't gotten the email yet: https://github.blog/news-insights/company-news/github-copilo... Not really sure why I would stick with Copilot after this, and increasing Sonnet from 1x to 9x for annual subscribers is highway fucking robbery. Very glad I didn't commit myself to an annual plan.
> Alternatively, they may convert to a monthly paid plan before their annual plan expires, and we will provide prorated credits for the remaining value of their annual plan.
I don’t understand if this means they’re providing actual refunds or not. For them to straight up go back on their word this had to have been a major cost they didn’t exactly expect.
Save us Deepseek!
I don’t need the world’s greatest programmer for the types of vibe coding projects I actually build.
However, if compute keeps going up in cost, hiring skilled people who know how to utilize it becomes more important. This might save the tech economy.
Re: GitHub Copilot is moving to usage-based billing
#185I bought a copilot subscription for some small personal projects at Christmas.
I haven't been able to use my subscription much over the busy spring months, but i'm being charged every month.
I'd be tempted to keep the subscription if usage-based billing meant that i'd save money when i had less time.
But today, after hearing this, i cancelled my subscription.
Re: GitHub Copilot is moving to usage-based billing
#186haven't touched copilot for one year, this reminds me to cancel, it will take sometime to catch up
Re: GitHub Copilot is moving to usage-based billing
#187aaaand another github outage today. FFS
Re: GitHub Copilot is moving to usage-based billing
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
One theory of the play of SpaceX might do if everyone migrates to query-based billing: Provide cheap and unlimited access to Grok for programmers (hence the Cursor partnership/purchase for distribution). -> This would drag massive revenue right before the IPO announcement, like if the company is super growing -> At a loss, but don't worry, we need these funds to build the biggest datacenter of the universe. This anno…
I don’t get the SpaceX reference. I thought they made rockets?
Nobody is paying for Elons xAI so he used SpaceX to buy xAI to fund it.
Re: GitHub Copilot is moving to usage-based billing
#189Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just be aware OpenRouter charges a 5.5% fee, I didn’t know until recently. I like the product, and I think the fee is fair, but if you want the absolute best pricing then go direct.
Wow thats a lot for routing traffic.
And handling API tokens, and billing, and reliability, and middleware. I am not affiliated with them but it’s not “just” routing.
Apple still charges 30%. 5.5 seems pretty reasonable. /shrug I dunno.
Re: GitHub Copilot is moving to usage-based billing
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think that only applies to held-over users on the annual plan: > Users on annual Pro or Pro+ plans will remain on their existing plan with premium request-based pricing until their plan expires, however, model multipliers will increase on June 1 (see table).
Thanks this is helpful. I am on my first month of annual Pro. Should I keep it or cancel it (ask for a refund)?
It isn't just the big multiplier increase, they also say "...and no new models or features will be added to annual plans going forward."
Can you imagine ten months from now and you're still rolling Sonnet 4.6?
Cancel/refund is looking pretty good. They're doing refunds until May 20.
"To request a refund, go to Settings → Billing and licensing → Licensing, select Manage subscription, then choose Cancel and refund "subscription". (The phrasing varies slightly depending on your subscription ). This option will be available until May 20."