Business Model Implosion
On June 1, GitHub (owned by Microsoft) switched its billing system from a flat subscription rate to a token-usage system. Iâve described here before how my $39-per-month subscription provided a certain number of premium requests. I was working well within that tier, and in the past two weeks, my agentic workflow has been really smooth.
I didnât do any development work yesterday, as I was building my bandâs website, but today I dove back in. It was early afternoon when Copilot informed me that I had used 50% of my credits. What would usually last me about 15 days, I had burned through in less than one. I was aware that they were changing their billing model, but that was a shock.
I spent the rest of the afternoon overhauling my workflow to make it more efficient. By the end of my work day, I was at 71%. If I were to continue at that rate, what was costing me $39 will instead cost around $609. Thatâs a 15x increase.
I fully admit, I was part of the problem. Their original use case was a developer using AI as a coding assistant for code completion, writing a function, fixing a bug, or generating a component. Iâve created an entire product development platform with a multi-agent development loop involving a Planner, Architect, Designer, Builder, Reviewer, Backlog Manager, Tester, and DevOps Manager. I built out an entire design system while at the same time building two entire applications from scratch. Iâm probably the exact person they are targeting.
On the other hand, they have encouraged this type of use, and now theyâre pulling the rug out from under us. Iâve spent weeks building my workflow with the intention of using it for my future livelihood. But now, all of a sudden, what Iâve built is no longer sustainable.
Iâm not the only one feeling the pain, as evidenced by recent tech news.
The golden age of Microsoft's GitHub Copilot appears to be at an end.
'16% of my monthly Pro+ allowance. Gone. For basically nothing'
GitHub Copilot pricing shifted to token-based billing today for 4.7 million paid subscribers, replacing flat-rate requests with GitHub AI Cr
Iâm going to give it a few days to see how my efficiency changes impact my usage, but I may be looking for a more cost-effective way to continue this work.



















