GitHub just paused new sign-ups for Copilot Pro, Pro+, and Student plans. Usage limits are getting tighter. Anthropic's Opus models are disappearing from Pro plans. Claude Code pulled from Pro The billing system is moving from per-request to per-token. Agentic workflows burn through compute at a rate that makes flat-rate pricing impossible, and GitHub's weekly costs have nearly doubled since early 2026 according to internal documents.
Traditional coding assistants make one API call and return an answer. Agentic workflows loop. They reason step by step, spawn parallel subprocesses, self-correct, and run background monitoring. A single task can trigger dozens of hidden API calls before you see a result. GitHub is transitioning to the newer Opus 4.7 model, which consumes even more tokens per request than the 4.5 and 4.6 versions it's replacing. The cost structure has changed.
GitHub is now showing usage limits directly in VS Code and Copilot CLI. Pro+ users get five times the limits of Pro. These are reasonable responses to a real problem. But the community isn't happy. Claude Code users revolt Users are calling Copilot a low-value middleman and migrating to direct provider access or alternatives like OpenCode. Microsoft, Anthropic, and others are all retreating from subsidized AI pricing. Token-based billing is coming for Business and Enterprise plans too. The industry is learning that giving away compute-heavy AI at a fixed price only works if nobody actually uses it.