Please provide a fair transition path for annual Copilot Pro+ subscribers on legacy billing

[gimlichael]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Product Feedback

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Copilot in GitHub

Body

I would like to raise respectful but disappointed feedback about the transition for existing annual Copilot Pro and Pro+ subscribers who remain on the legacy request-based billing model.

I have been a happy GitHub Copilot customer for a long time. I moved to GitHub in 2017 and never looked back, and I adopted Copilot early — long before it had the capabilities it has today. I am also a long-time fan of both Microsoft and GitHub, which is why this change feels especially disappointing.

I paid for 12 months of Copilot Pro+ annually, in good faith, with the expectation that the product would continue to evolve during that paid subscription period. Copilot Pro+ did not feel like a static set of models at the time of purchase; it felt like a subscription to the continued Copilot experience as new capabilities became available.

The current legacy annual-plan documentation says that users on legacy annual Copilot plans will not receive access to new models and features:

https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/reference/copilot-billing/request-based-billing-legacy/model-multipliers-for-annual-plans

At the same time, the same documentation includes MAI-Code-1-Flash in the multiplier table. I appreciate that addition, and I do not want to ignore it. However, MAI-Code-1-Flash is a lightweight model, and its inclusion does not resolve the broader concern: annual legacy subscribers appear to be on a more limited and unclear path for new model and feature access, despite having prepaid for a full year of Copilot Pro+.

From a customer-trust perspective, this feels like a poor outcome for some of GitHub’s most loyal individual customers. Monthly subscribers and new subscribers can evaluate the current offering with the latest model access, while annual legacy subscribers who prepaid are left with uncertainty around which new models and features they will receive.

I understand that model economics have changed, and I am not asking for unlimited access to every new model at the same effective cost. What I am asking for is a fair transition model for customers who committed to Copilot Pro+ annually before this change.

A more balanced approach would be to keep annual legacy subscribers eligible for new models through adjusted premium request multipliers. GitHub already has a multiplier system for the legacy billing model, so it seems technically and commercially possible to add new models with fair multipliers that reflect their actual cost.

Even if GitHub needs more telemetry before assigning the right multiplier, a short delay would be understandable. For example, new models could become available to legacy annual users after a 1–2 week delay, once GitHub has enough usage and cost insight to set an appropriate multiplier. That would be far easier to accept than a policy where access is broadly paused, unclear, or only selectively granted.

I would therefore like to ask GitHub to reconsider one or more of the following options for annual legacy Copilot Pro and Pro+ subscribers:

1. Continue adding new models to legacy annual plans using fairly adjusted multipliers.
2. Allow access to new models after a short delay once the multiplier is known.
3. Clarify the policy so annual subscribers know whether lightweight, versatile, and powerful models will be handled differently.
4. Provide a migration path that preserves the remaining annual value without requiring customers to effectively re-buy access.
5. Offer additional credits or another goodwill adjustment for annual customers affected by the transition.

For context, I have previously asked model-specific questions about annual Copilot Pro+ legacy access:

• Claude Fable 5: https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/198734
• Claude Sonnet 5: https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/200579

The purpose of this discussion is not to reopen those individual model questions. My concern is the broader transition policy for annual legacy subscribers.

Right now, every new model announcement creates the same uncertainty: are annual Pro+ legacy customers included, excluded, delayed, or only included for selected models? I eagerly and daily check if I am in luck.

That uncertainty is the real issue. GitHub has already shown that legacy annual plans can receive at least some newer models, such as MAI-Code-1-Flash. I would therefore appreciate a clearer and fairer policy for how new lightweight, versatile, and powerful models will be handled for customers who prepaid for an annual Copilot Pro+ subscription.

I remain very positive about Copilot and the direction of GitHub’s AI tooling. This feedback comes from wanting to continue trusting and investing in the platform, not from wanting to avoid paying for higher-value models. I simply believe that customers who prepaid for a year of Copilot Pro+ deserve a more considerate and transparent transition.

Thank you for considering this feedback.

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