{"meta":{"title":"Billing cycles","intro":"Learn about the billing cycles for self-serve, Azure, and invoiced payment methods.","product":"Billing and payments","breadcrumbs":[{"href":"/en/billing","title":"Billing and payments"},{"href":"/en/billing/concepts","title":"Concepts"},{"href":"/en/billing/concepts/billing-cycles","title":"Billing cycles"}],"documentType":"article"},"body":"# Billing cycles\n\nLearn about the billing cycles for self-serve, Azure, and invoiced payment methods.\n\nYour 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.\n\n* **Metered**: Pay monthly for the number of licenses you use\n* **Volume-based**: Traditional annual subscriptions with a fixed number of licenses\n\n## Billing cycles for metered products\n\nMetered 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.\n\nAt 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:\n\n* **Personal and organization accounts:** This is typically the day you started a paid plan (not necessarily when the account was created).\n* **Enterprise accounts:** This is typically determined by when you converted from a trial to a paid enterprise account.\n\nFor 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.\n\n> \\[!NOTE]\n> 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.\n\n## Billing cycle for cloud and local sandboxes for GitHub Copilot during public preview\n\nDuring public preview, eligible accounts receive a **$10 monthly entitlement** for cloud sandbox usage through the end of **July 2026**. The entitlement applies as follows:\n\n* Usage above the entitlement is metered against your standard billing cycle and billed on your normal billing date.\n* The entitlement is discontinued after July 2026. Pricing and packaging after the preview is subject to change.\n\n## Billing cycles for volume-based products\n\nVolume-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.\n\n## How mid-cycle changes affect your billing\n\nChanges 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.\n\n### Adding users or resources\n\n* **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.\n* **Add organizations or repositories**: These will also result in **prorated charges**, which appear on your next invoice.\n\n### Removing users or resources\n\n* **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.\n* **Remove organizations or repositories**: Charges **stop immediately** when removed, but you'll still be billed for any usage **up to that point**.\n\n### Transferring users or resources\n\n* **Within the same billing account**: No double-billing. Moving users or resources between organizations under the same account is handled automatically.\n* **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.\n\n## Where to find usage details for specific products\n\nFind product-specific guidance on how usage is calculated and billed.\n\n* [GitHub Actions billing](/en/billing/managing-billing-for-your-products/managing-billing-for-github-actions/about-billing-for-github-actions)\n* [GitHub Codespaces billing](/en/billing/managing-billing-for-your-products/managing-billing-for-github-codespaces/about-billing-for-github-codespaces)\n* [GitHub Packages billing](/en/billing/managing-billing-for-your-products/managing-billing-for-github-packages/about-billing-for-github-packages)\n* [GitHub Copilot licenses](/en/billing/managing-billing-for-your-products/managing-billing-for-github-copilot/about-billing-for-github-copilot)\n* [Billing for cloud and local sandboxes for GitHub Copilot](/en/billing/concepts/product-billing/cloud-and-local-sandboxes)\n* [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)\n* [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)"}