‘Goodbye, Copilot’: Microsoft faces backlash as Github Copilot ends flat-rate AI pricing from June 1

Microsoft is set to make a big change to GitHub Copilot's pricing structure from tomorrrow i.e. 1st June and developers are openly voicing out their frustration about this change even threatening to go to alternatives.

Before we talk about what developers and coders are saying, let's first understand why Microsoft is at the receing end of this backlash in the first place.

Why is Microsoft under fire from developers?

Microsoft is changing its pricing strucutre from the existing flat tier rate to a new usage based system where costs to the users will now be calculated based on token consumption.

Under the new policy, Copilot Pro subscribers will receive $10 worth of monthly AI Credits and Copilot Pro+ users will get $39 in monthly credits.

In a blogpost, explaining the change, Microsoft says the move to usage based system "better aligns pricing with actual usage" and is necessary to create a "sustainable, reliable Copilot business and experience for all users."

However, long time GitHub Copilot users are now openly voicing their frustrations online fearing that the AI credits based system will make it costlier to use the coding assistant especially when compared to rivals like Cursor, Codex, Claude Code, OpenCode and DeepSee

How are netizens reacting?

Across social media platforms like Reddit and X (formerly Twitter) developers have begun raising their voice against the new usage based model with many of them suggesting that they are looking for alternatives while others stating that they have already switched to rivals like DeepSeek or Codex for more usage.

"Goodbye copilot You were great while it lasted" wrote a user on Reddit. “What a joke” chimec in another user

“With Copilot shifting to usage-based billing, it’s time to say goodbye. I’ve already jumped ship to CodeX. With Copilot's new pricing, I just don't see them offering more tokens than CodeX at the same price point.” added a frustrated user on Reddit

Some users on Reddit pointed towards the broader change in AI industry as compute costs continue to rise, writing, "What we're seeing is basically the end of AI being ridiculously subsidized. The real cost is starting to become apparent (and it's pretty damn high),"

Another user added, “AI is becoming so expensive nowadays that I've to start thinking again.”

"Microsoft could easily keep subsidizing copilot, they don't want to. I think this has more to do with their fued with OpenAI than anything else." complained another user

Not just Microsoft, Google made a similar change:

Notably, Google also made a similar change to its AI Pro Plan recently where it replaced the daily prompt limits for Gemini with usage credits that are alloted for a 5-hour rolling window.

The company also did not explicitly list out these limits, writing in an email that AI Pro subscribers will get limits that are "four times higher" than free users but it did not disclose the exact token that users get.

Similar to Microsoft, Google had also faced the flak from its users for making the silent changes to its plan.