Overview of billing for agents and workflows powered by the GitHub Copilot harness

Agents and workflows powered by the GitHub Copilot harness use a new, usage-based billing structure. This article describes what's changed and how Copilot credits are measured for these experiences.

What's new

• Usage-based billing: All usage is billed based on consumption and measured in Copilot credits. Creating and using agents and workflows consumes credits based on usage and rate of consumption.
• Credits cover the full experience: Copilot credits are charged for large language model (LLM) tokens, tools (including knowledge and MCPs), and the harness itself. Any experience that uses one of these consumes credits.
• Billing starts when you start building: Unlike the standard harness, which starts billing after publish, the GitHub Copilot harness charges credits from the moment you start building. Experiences such as creating an automated solution with natural language, previewing and testing the agent, and generating and creating agent evaluations all consume credits.
• Scope: This billing structure applies only to agents, workflows, and apps powered by the GitHub Copilot harness.

How Copilot Credits are purchased and managed

Copilot Credits are managed through the Power Platform admin center. Administrators can allocate credits to environments and monitor usage to ensure that agents have the necessary resources. If you need credits assigned to your environment, contact your administrator. Learn more in:

• Purchase and manage Copilot Credits
• Manage Copilot Credits and capacity for Copilot Studio
• Manage costs for agents powered by the GitHub Copilot harness.

How Copilot Credits are measured

Copilot credits are the unit that measures agent and workflow usage. You calculate the total cost based on the sum of the Copilot credits your organization uses. The number of Copilot credits agents and workflows consume depends on how they are designed, how often they run, and the features they use. You can estimate how much your agent's credit consumption will be by using the Copilot Credits estimator.

Credits charged for each task vary, but you can expect token usage to fall within the ranges shown in the following diagram, depending on task complexity.

View consumed credits

You can view the Copilot Credits an agent consumes on its Monitor page in Copilot Studio. Learn more in monitor an agent.

To view credit consumption across an environment or your tenant, go to Licensing > Copilot Studio in the Power Platform admin center.

To understand how Copilot Credits consumption is enforced, learn more in the Enforcement policy.