# Billing cycles

Learn about the billing cycles for self-serve, Azure, and invoiced payment methods.

Your billing experience depends on whether your products are metered, volume-based, or a combination of both. Some products, like GitHub Enterprise and GitHub Advanced Security, can be either volume-based or metered, depending on when and how your account was created.

* **Metered**: Pay monthly for the number of licenses you use
* **Volume-based**: Traditional annual subscriptions with a fixed number of licenses

## Billing cycles for metered products

Metered products, and all payments made using an Azure subscription ID, have a fixed **billing period** that starts at 00:00:00 UTC on the first day of each month and ends at 23:59:59 UTC on the last day of the month.

At the end of each month, your metered usage is calculated and scheduled to be billed on your **billing date**. Accounts using an Azure subscription ID can access their specific billing date in the Azure commerce portal. For users with other payment methods:

* **Personal and organization accounts:** This is typically the day you started a paid plan (not necessarily when the account was created).
* **Enterprise accounts:** This is typically determined by when you converted from a trial to a paid enterprise account.

For example, if you started a paid plan or converted from a trial on the 15th of a month, you will be billed on the 15th of each subsequent month.

> \[!NOTE]
> From **December 1, 2025**, all self-serve, metered GitHub Enterprise Cloud accounts that pay by credit card will migrate to a **billing date** of 1st of the month. See [Billing date standardized to the first of the month for self-serve credit card metered Enterprise customers](https://github.blog/changelog/2025-11-17-billing-date-standardized-to-the-first-of-the-month-for-self-serve-credit-card-metered-enterprise-customers-now-generally-available/) in the changelog.

## Billing cycle for cloud and local sandboxes for GitHub Copilot during public preview

During public preview, eligible accounts receive a **$10 monthly entitlement** for cloud sandbox usage in **June 2026**. The entitlement applies as follows:

* Usage above the entitlement is metered against your standard billing cycle and billed on your normal billing date.
* The entitlement is discontinued after June 2026. Pricing and packaging after the preview is subject to change.

## Billing cycles for volume-based products

Volume-based licenses may follow a different billing cycle. These products are often billed based on the anniversary date of your subscription rather than by calendar month.

## How mid-cycle changes affect your billing

Changes you make mid-cycle, such as adding or removing users, seats, or resources, can affect your bill. Some behaviors apply to both metered and volume-based billing; others are specific to one model.

### Adding users or resources

* **Add users or licenses**: For products like Copilot, GitHub Enterprise, or GitHub Advanced Security, you'll be billed a prorated amount for the added licenses based on how many days remain in the current billing cycle.
* **Add organizations or repositories**: These will also result in **prorated charges**, which appear on your next invoice.

### Removing users or resources

* **Remove users or seats**: The user's access is revoked immediately, but you'll still be billed for the **full billing cycle**. Removing a user won't reduce your current bill.
* **Remove organizations or repositories**: Charges **stop immediately** when removed, but you'll still be billed for any usage **up to that point**.

### Transferring users or resources

* **Within the same billing account**: No double-billing. Moving users or resources between organizations under the same account is handled automatically.
* **Between different billing accounts**: Each account is billed according to its own cycle. You may see charges in both accounts if the move overlaps billing periods.

## Where to find usage details for specific products

Find product-specific guidance on how usage is calculated and billed.

* [GitHub Actions billing](/en/billing/managing-billing-for-your-products/managing-billing-for-github-actions/about-billing-for-github-actions)
* [GitHub Codespaces billing](/en/billing/managing-billing-for-your-products/managing-billing-for-github-codespaces/about-billing-for-github-codespaces)
* [GitHub Packages billing](/en/billing/managing-billing-for-your-products/managing-billing-for-github-packages/about-billing-for-github-packages)
* [GitHub Copilot licenses](/en/billing/managing-billing-for-your-products/managing-billing-for-github-copilot/about-billing-for-github-copilot)
* [Billing for cloud and local sandboxes for GitHub Copilot](/en/billing/concepts/product-billing/cloud-and-local-sandboxes)
* [About Visual Studio subscriptions with GitHub Enterprise](/en/billing/managing-billing-for-your-products/managing-licenses-for-visual-studio-subscriptions-with-github-enterprise/about-visual-studio-subscriptions-with-github-enterprise#about-licenses-for-visual-studio-subscriptions-with-github-enterprise-cloud)
* [Git Large File Storage billing](/en/billing/managing-billing-for-your-products/managing-billing-for-git-large-file-storage/about-billing-for-git-large-file-storage)