Reinier van Maanen explores how organizations can work around GitHub Copilot’s 300 free premium requests limitation, the hidden costs of such tactics, and provides practical insights into optimizing Copilot and AI productivity in development workflows.

Limited to 300 Free Premium Requests by Your Org? Here’s an Expensive Workaround!

By Reinier van Maanen

When your organization hits GitHub Copilot’s 300 free premium requests limit and you desperately need more AI assistance, there is a workaround—but it comes at a significant cost. This article explains Copilot’s premium request system, the potential for bypassing organizational limits through personal organizations and Azure integration, and offers tips for efficient AI usage and cost control.

Index

What Are Premium Requests?

Premium requests are actions in GitHub Copilot that use advanced AI models beyond the standard GPT-4o and GPT-4.1 offerings. These include:

  • Copilot Chat: One premium request per user prompt, multiplied by the model’s rate
  • Copilot Coding Agent: One premium request per session when creating or modifying pull requests
  • Agent Mode in Copilot Chat: One premium request per user prompt, multiplied by model’s rate
  • Copilot Code Review: One premium request each time Copilot comments on a pull request
  • Copilot Extensions and Spaces: One per user prompt, again multiplied by model rate
  • Spark: Four premium requests per prompt (fixed)

Understanding Model Multipliers

GitHub Copilot Business and Enterprise plans grant 300 free premium requests per user per month. Each advanced AI model consumes premium request entitlements at different rates:

  • GPT-4o / GPT-4.1: 0× (free on paid plans)
  • Gemini 2.0 Flash: 0.25× (1 interaction = 0.25 premium requests)
  • Claude 3.5 Sonnet: 1× (1 interaction = 1 premium request)
  • GPT-4o mini: 1× (1 interaction = 1 premium request)
  • Claude Opus 4: 10× (1 interaction = 10 premium requests)

This means you could have 1,200 interactions with Gemini 2.0 Flash, but only 30 with Claude Opus 4, using the same 300-request allowance.

When Organizations Hit the Limit

Once the 300-request threshold is reached, organizations have options:

  1. Wait for the monthly reset (1st of each month, UTC)
  2. Pay for additional requests (.04 USD/request)
  3. Disable premium requests, limiting users to included models
  4. Upgrade plans for higher limits

Some organizations choose to disable overages altogether, restricting developers to basic models.

Creating a personal GitHub organization to bypass premium request

Creating a personal GitHub organization to bypass premium request.

The Personal Organization Workaround

If your organization won’t pay for overages:

Step 1: Create a New Business Organization

  • Set up a new GitHub organization with your existing GitHub account
  • Purchase GitHub Copilot Business ($19/user/month minimum)
  • Add yourself as the only member
  • Note: You must also purchase a GitHub Team plan ($4/user/month), for a minimum total of $23/month

Step 2: Stack Your Premium Allowances

By belonging to two organizations (corporate and personal), you now have access to both pools of 300 premium requests each (totaling 600 per month). You can select “Usage billed to” in Copilot settings to switch chargebacks between organizations.

Azure Billing Integration

You can connect your personal organization to Azure metered billing:

  1. Set up an Azure Subscription for your organization
  2. Configure a spending budget for post-600 premium requests
  3. Use Microsoft Partner Network credits if available

This moves excess usage over 600 monthly requests to be billed at .04/request through Azure, possibly benefiting from credits or partner rates.

  • Note: At the time of writing, metered usage over 600 is not clearly reflected in Copilot billing dashboards—monitor carefully.

Choose who pays for your Copilot premium requests usage. Included usage from their license applies.

Choose who pays for your Copilot premium requests usage. Included usage from their license applies.

DISCLAIMER: The precise mechanics of premium requests >600 becoming metered is still unconfirmed by the author; always monitor your billing dashboard for updates.

Cost Analysis

Let’s breakdown the expenses involved in this workaround:

Component Cost Notes
GitHub Team Plan $4/month Required for org, base cost
GitHub Copilot Business $19/month Paid minimum
600 Free Premium Requests   Combined from two orgs
Additional Requests (Azure) .04/request Only for over-600 usage
Total minimum $23/month Just to get started

Example Scenarios

  • Light User (400 requests/month):
    • 300 via corporate, 100 via personal organization. Total: $23/month
  • Heavy User (1,000 requests/month):
    • 300 via corporate, 300 via personal, 400 through Azure billing = $23 + (400×.04) = $39/month
  • Direct Overages Without Workaround (Org enables paid overages):
    • 1,000 requests = First 300 free, 700 at .04/request = $28/month (cheaper)

GitHub Copilot Coding Agent Tip

To optimize premium request use, leverage the Copilot Coding Agent: One premium request covers an entire session (pull request creation/modification), potentially generating code, documentation, and tests in a single request. Assign detailed issues to the Coding Agent for maximum output.

Better Alternatives

Before resorting to personal organizations and extra billing, consider the following:

1. Advocate Internally

  • Present ROI and productivity gains
  • Request a pilot with paid overages

2. Optimize Current Usage

  • Use GPT-4o/GPT-4.1 for majority of work (these are free)
  • Save premium requests for complex tasks
  • Use the Coding Agent for high-output sessions

3. Consider Alternative Tools

  • Test other AI coding assistants without strict request limits
  • Mix tools wisely and leverage local AI models as needed

References

This post was created with help from GitHub Copilot Chat.

This post appeared first on “Reinier van Maanen’s blog”. Read the entire article here