Copilot still blocks premium requests after increasing budget – stuck at 102% usage

[sescanella]

Select Topic Area

Bug

Copilot Feature Area

VS Code

Body

Critical Bug: Copilot Premium Requests blocked despite increased budget – stuck at 102% usage

I’m experiencing a blocking issue with GitHub Copilot in VS Code that affects my ability to use premium models like Sonnet. My usage bar is stuck at 102.8%, and I keep getting downgraded to GPT-4.1 despite the following:

• I have an active Copilot Pro subscription.
• I increased the "Copilot Premium Request" budget to $10.
• Usage is correctly reflected in billing ($0.28 already spent).
• I’m charged for premium requests, but the system still shows the red usage bar and denies access to premium models after the first request.

I have already tried:

• Signing out and back in to VS Code
• Clearing %APPDATA%\Code\User\globalStorage\github.copilot
• Reinstalling the extension
• Removing all related GitHub Copilot cache and logs
• Revoking and reauthorizing GitHub OAuth sessions
• Waiting over 48 hours since budget increase

The issue persists and is blocking my workflow. VS Code clearly fetches entitlement status from the usage bar, not the billing tracker, and this state is not being refreshed.

Please help me refresh my premium request allowance immediately or escalate to engineering if needed. The billing system is working, but the entitlement service is stuck.

Thanks in advance.

[github-actions[bot]]

💬 Your Product Feedback Has Been Submitted 🎉

Thank you for taking the time to share your insights with us! Your feedback is invaluable as we build a better GitHub experience for all our users.

Here's what you can expect moving forward ⏩

• Your input will be carefully reviewed and cataloged by members of our product teams. 
  • Due to the high volume of submissions, we may not always be able to provide individual responses.
  • Rest assured, your feedback will help chart our course for product improvements.
• Other users may engage with your post, sharing their own perspectives or experiences. 
• GitHub staff may reach out for further clarification or insight. 
  • We may 'Answer' your discussion if there is a current solution, workaround, or roadmap/changelog post related to the feedback.

Where to look to see what's shipping 👀

• Read the Changelog for real-time updates on the latest GitHub features, enhancements, and calls for feedback.
• Explore our Product Roadmap, which details upcoming major releases and initiatives.

What you can do in the meantime 💻

• Upvote and comment on other user feedback Discussions that resonate with you.
• Add more information at any point! Useful details include: use cases, relevant labels, desired outcomes, and any accompanying screenshots.

As a member of the GitHub community, your participation is essential. While we can't promise that every suggestion will be implemented, we want to emphasize that your feedback is instrumental in guiding our decisions and priorities.

Thank you once again for your contribution to making GitHub even better! We're grateful for your ongoing support and collaboration in shaping the future of our platform. ⭐

[Jan98989]

Same. When copilot fix it? Hello 6 months.

[4vzRER]

same btw, this app is dumb.

[jordanvalnet]

same

[abaker-sp]

My fix was going to Billing, clicking the dropdown for Manage Subscription and selected Start Paid Plan.

[JoshPWatkins]

My fix was going to Billing, clicking the dropdown for Manage Subscription and selected Start Paid Plan.

This worked for me too. The issue was that I was still on the free trial

[NirajDN]

Hey! @sescanella That sounds really frustrating, thanks for explaining everything so clearly.

It seems like your billing and budget are all set correctly, but the system that checks whether you can actually use the premium models (called the entitlement service) is stuck and not updating properly.

Here are a few things you could try:

Double-check your GitHub billing page to make sure your Copilot Pro subscription is active and there are no payment issues.

You’ve already cleared the cache in VS Code, which is great! Maybe try signing out of GitHub both in VS Code and on the website, then sign back in everywhere. Sometimes that helps reset things.

Make sure you have the latest versions of VS Code and the Copilot extension installed. Updates can fix issues like this.

If none of that works, I’d recommend contacting GitHub Support directly. Since this sounds like a backend problem, they’ll be able to help get your premium access unstuck.

Basically, your billing looks fine, but the system controlling access just needs to be refreshed on their end.

Hope this helps! Let me know if you want tips on how to contact support or anything else. Good luck! 😊
-@NirajDN

[sescanella]

Thanks so much for the kind and thoughtful response, @NirajDN — I really appreciate it!

I went through all the steps you suggested (including signing out from both VS Code and GitHub, reinstalling the Copilot extension, and confirming billing is active and correct), but unfortunately the issue still persists.

My premium usage is still stuck above 100%, and VS Code continues to block Sonnet after the first message, even though additional premium requests are being billed and budget is available.

I’ve also contacted GitHub Support and submitted product feedback here, but haven’t received a resolution yet. It really does feel like the entitlement service just needs to be refreshed manually.

If you know of any way to escalate this internally or trigger a sync on GitHub’s side, I’d be incredibly grateful!

Thanks again for jumping in 🙏

[NirajDN]

@sescanella If you’re comfortable, try posting a short message to @githubsupport on Twitter/X with your ticket number ,they sometimes respond quicker that way.

[emme1009]

@sescanella did you solve the problem ? And if yes how ?
I encounter the exact same issue since setting a budget for premium requests. Im stuck at 103%

[victorgomezdejuan]

I managed to solve the issue by applying a budget increase not only for Copilot Premium Request but for all the other kind of budgets as well.

I hope this helps anyone with the same issue.

[EdNoepel]

I discovered enabling the All Premium Request SKUs budget that fixed it for me. No clue why this, Copilot, and Models can't be rolled up into a single budget. Bizarre way of organizing it.

[Darksoulsong]

Sorry, but this is not a solution; it’s merely a workaround. Users should not have to add a budget to every item just to access a single resource. This process is incredibly simpler in Cursor, and, since this issue has been ongoing for months, I believe the best solution is to go back to Cursor.

[michaellangecti]

DOES NOT WORK. I still get the error. What a pizza! I upgraded to co-pilot pro and paid for a year and set a budget for everything that can have one. still broken.

[Dylan-M]

DOES NOT WORK. I still get the error. What a pizza! I upgraded to co-pilot pro and paid for a year and set a budget for everything that can have one. still broken.

Works just fine. You actually only need 2 of the budgets (see my screenshot). However, you do need to wait a few hours without doing anything to avoid being rate limited.

[michaellangecti]

I added those on friday. still nothing.

[WCPILOT7]

I topped up Github Copilot Pro+, but the balance at the beginning of the report started at 20% instead of zero. Why did this happen and why do I have Sonnet 3.5 instead of 4?

[scorgegarcia]

Same issue here at 102.7% ... btw, can't change to "YES" the "stop ussage" of product "copilot" xD not a big problem right now but... a bug it is...
Does anyone know any good alternative to copilot for premium agents?... is Gemini extension for vscode good?

[victorgomezdejuan]

Please, check my answer: https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/166810#discussioncomment-13891227

[scorgegarcia]

I did increase the budgets as you suggest in your answer, I think it helped, but not solved the issue I'll explain:... I have notice that if I open vscode and use it, the first prompt it uses the premium request, but the second one and later it switches to gpt4.1... I need to restart the vscode every prompt.. its a hassle but can be done, the problem is when the agent needs more time, and there is a annoying message that says something like "Copilot has been working in this issue for a long time, do you want to continue or refine?." and when I clic continue it takes it like a second prompt (obviously for money grabbing xD) but this interaction switches me to gpt4.1 because copilot in his gigantic wisdom "thinks" this is another request...

btw, with this 1 first time interactions every vscode launched Im now at 105% xD and still can't change the "stop usage" from "copilot" from "no" to "yes" but... its not a big deal, for now... xD

[victorgomezdejuan]

@scorgegarcia umm, I see. What Copilot plan do you have in your current suscription?

[edlang]

Did this get resolved? I'm seeing the same issue, across multiple platforms (GitHub web, VSCode on Debian and Windows, Visual Studio free on Windows). I've upped my budgets and all are saying zero usage. Perhaps it doesn't work during a trial, even though I deliberately upgraded to Copilot Pro during the trial window and was charged the ~US$4 for the first month?

[sescanella]

I ran into the same issue and unfortunately was never able to get it resolved.
After multiple attempts (upping budgets, reinstalling, contacting support, etc.), nothing worked for me.

In the end, I canceled my Copilot subscription and switched over to Claude Code instead. Since then I haven’t had any problems at all.

It was frustrating because I essentially lost money and didn’t get the support I needed, but at least now I feel comfortable with the alternative. I still hope GitHub can fix this so others don’t run into the same roadblock.

[edlang]

In my case, I resolved it by:

• Setting a higher budget per month for all features (US$20 each), still set to stop when the budget was reached
• Signing up for GitHub Pro (~US$4/mo)
• Waiting ~12 hours
• Ended my Copilot Pro trial and committed to the paid plan, which appears to have enabled the full functionality on the GitHub side
• Signed out of GitHub / Copilot in VSC
• Signed into Copilot first in VSC, acknowledged the trial has ended, then signed into other features
• Premium requests now work again as expected,

I haven't tried it on other OSs / editors yet, but I assume it works there.

I guess github just really wants your money? Not sure if these steps are in their documentation somewhere, I haven't checked.

[sescanella]

I wasn’t able to solve the issue, and in the end I had to cancel my GitHub Copilot subscription. To keep moving forward, I switched directly to Claude and started using Claude Code. Since then, I haven’t had any problems — it just works.

I want to share a bit of my journey, in case it helps others who might be in the same spot: a few months ago, I knew absolutely nothing about coding. My first step was with n8n, and I was amazed by the results, but I didn’t like depending too much on a service I couldn’t fully understand. That’s when I decided to actually learn to code.

The closest I had ever been to "coding" before was back in 2014, installing Minecraft mods by typing %AppData% and dragging a folder. Fast-forward to now: I’ve spent countless hours studying, experimenting, and building. I tried GitHub Copilot, which at first seemed like the perfect partner, but ran into this entitlement issue. Then I tried Bolt.new (a great service, but expensive and left me with the same “black box” feeling as n8n).

Eventually, I went back to VS Code, made a lot of spaghetti projects, and learned a ton through mistakes. Now, with Claude Code, I finally feel comfortable and in control of my learning. I’m currently diving into context engineering, creating endless prompts, with ChatGPT as my teacher and Obsidian as my notebook.

Although my experience with Copilot left me disappointed (since I couldn’t get proper support and ended up losing money), I’m now happy and confident with the tools I use. I hope the Copilot team can find a real solution to this issue, because I can see how much potential it has for beginners like me.

Started clueless. Still clueless. Just trying. Turns out, all you need is willpower. Never doubt!

[sebastiandanielsson-max]

Oh no I have the same issue and I guess there is no way to just instantly pay money to increase your limit, this is horrible. Damn it!

[Dylan-M]

@sebastiandanielsson-max Clearly you haven't read all of the comments, because you most definitely can by setting the correct budgets and getting rid of any trial status.

[jakefreeman]

@Dylan-M its dumb that it works that way, sending people down rabbit holes who are trying to spend money to make a service work correctly. Who cares it’s a free trial. It should work the way it’s supposed to so I can trial it. Take my money. But nope. Ended up canceling.

[KL-Vanovis]

@sebastiandanielsson-max Clearly you haven't read all of the comments, because you most definitely can by setting the correct budgets and getting rid of any trial status.

Could you please clarify what we miss then?
To me it seems like:

1. You can only sign up with a free trail
2. You can't use a budget on top of that free trail, you need to be a PRO subscriber
3. the real Pro subscriber only get's activated after end of your trail.
4. If you cancel you trial, it will still be stuck until your trail is over.
   I'm guessing that I can use budget, when my trail is over, but I don't know.

[arncrn]

I'm glad I found this. I've been going down rabbit holes to get copilot to work, but it looks like you can only give them more money at the end of your trial? Very dumb. I'll also be moving to Cursor

[NirajDN]

Hi there,

Thank you for your detailed report and for sharing all the steps you’ve already tried—that’s very helpful and shows you’ve done a thorough job troubleshooting.

From what you’ve described, it sounds like Copilot’s entitlement system (which controls access to premium models based on your usage bar) isn’t syncing up correctly with the billing system. Even though your Copilot Pro subscription is active, your budget is increased, and you can see charges for premium requests in your billing, the usage bar in VS Code remains stuck above 100% and is blocking your access to premium models like Sonnet.

You’ve already covered all the usual fixes:

Signing out/in and reauthorizing
Clearing Copilot and VS Code cache/data
Reinstalling extensions
Waiting more than 48 hours for any backend refresh
Given all this, it appears the issue isn’t on your end, and is likely related to how Copilot’s entitlement service is syncing usage data. Sometimes, these backend systems get “stuck” and don’t refresh until the next monthly reset, but your billing record shows the increased budget and charges, so this is likely a bug.

Here’s what I recommend:

Double-check your Copilot settings at https://github.com/settings/copilot to make sure the correct organization or billing entity is selected (if you have more than one subscription source).
Download your Copilot usage report from your billing/settings page to confirm that your usage and budget match what you see billed.
Since you’ve done all the local troubleshooting, please contact GitHub Support directly: https://support.github.com/contact
In your message, explain:
You have a paid Copilot Pro subscription.
You increased your premium request budget and see charges in billing.
The VS Code usage bar is stuck and not allowing access to premium models, even after all troubleshooting and waiting.
This is blocking your workflow and likely requires engineering intervention to refresh your entitlement.
Be sure to include links to screenshots if you have them, and mention that this is time-sensitive for your work. GitHub Support can escalate to the engineering team to resolve stuck entitlement states.

Thank you again for your detailed write-up, and I hope this gets resolved quickly for you!

Best,
@NirajDN

[alexplex]

I seem to be having the same issue. I have increased all visible budgets to $100 but the GitHub Copilot extension in VS Code still blocks further requests after reaching 100% premium requests. I just want to make sure that this is indeed a bug and not a setting that I have missed somewhere.

EDIT: Found the issue. I still had the Free Trial activated. Once I switched to the paid subscription it worked.

[KrleDev]

nice find brother!!!

[manuelschwarze]

I am in the same situation, but I clearly consider this a bug. I am on the Github Copilot subscription, which is free in the first month. So far I intended to continue with this, so it is planned to be switched into the paying model next month. However, when I am exceed my 300 included premium requests in the middle of my free month, I expect that Microsoft would let me pay already for additional requests based on a budget I set for "SKU - All Premium Request SKUs". Hard to believe that I want to pay and cannot. At the end I may end up cancelling the whole thing and giving my money somebody else.

[karmanyaahm]

Yeah this solved my problem too

[MadManMcIvor]

This solved my issue as well. Great find.

[BuiVanHoang714]

Oh it's very useful topic, hope you doing well next steps

[martinb69]

Same issue for me, unfortunately that's how I got here...

[KrleDev]

You just need to start the normal subscription so premium starts to be used. You can do so in the settings. Since you on free still it can't use premium....

[ruben2s]

same here. going to switch to another service. It's shameful

[KrleDev]

You just need to start the normal subscription so premium starts to be used. You can do so in the settings. Since you on free still it can't use premium....

[Senceract]

Which settings? Where? Ive been looking for 2 hours now. This site is so non-consumer friendly

[michaellangecti]

Has anyone find a workable solution for this? Ive addd anything I possibly could. I assigned budgets checked all settings. I even use an API key, I don't care. but it wont take nothing will. Is this a VS Code issue or a GitHub issue?

[Dylan-M]

The early access version of VS Code (what do they call it? Insiders or something like that?) is broken for this. You have to use the standard production version.

[michaellangecti]

That's not the problem. I thought it was. But it's not. Same issue on VS Code reg. Sucks.

[Dylan-M]

It sucks that different people experience it differently. I had all the same problems you did, but after switching to the primary release channel, setting those 2 budgets, and waiting 24 hours (without VS Code open)... it started working just fine for me.

[michaellangecti]

I with ya. I did exactly that. The only think I didn't do a 'no open vscode in 24 hours.' I cant imagine that would make a difference, but i'll give it a go. Maybe I'l kill and ae-add the budgets too. Cheers.

[michaellangecti]

Figured it out. And this WAS told to me. I just didn't understand what it meant.

1. You have to make sure you've canceled your trial. it does not automatically switch to paid. You must manually do it.
   Go to Billing>Licensing And ensure your subscription is paid

and buy a plan.

and then ensure you have your budgets set.

and then you'll hopefully drinking Mojitos somewhere while AI does its work. :)

[devopclinics]

I resolve this my updating my vscode and re-authenticate with GitHub. It works like magic.

…

On Tue, Dec 23, 2025, 7:42 AM michaellangecti ***@***.***> wrote: So the actual answer to the problem is to cancel your copilot subscription? "cancel my GitHub Copilot subscription.". That's the GitHub accepted answer? Wow, just giving up these days is the answer. Not good. But since AI does our jobs, who cares, right? lol. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#166810 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/A7Q3HKDUPNG3ODUCF6T42NT4DFBE5AVCNFSM6AAAAACB5CDEJGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTKMZSG4ZDINY> . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[rovshan-b]

I turns out I had sync merge conflict for the config file.
I tapped on Settings icon (left bottom side of the window), from the opening menu tapped on Settings sync (or something like that) and resolved that conflict, after that Sync started to work and copilot premium requests also appeared.

[Prathmesh-Deval]

Issue still persist, funny user is even ready to pay additional amount but the application itself is not giving him permission to use it. Truly bad experience.. definitely switching out of copilot pro now!

[Johnmaserati]

this thread was started in July last year and the issue is still there which is really disappointing and says a lot about how paying customers are viewed by github. I have the same problem and can't find a good solution. My Copilot crashes the chat very regulary and VS says my usage is at 130% but my plan says im at about 50%. Im not sure if its a UI issue or my chats are being throttled because it crashes so frequently. I am just perservering hoping for a better answer in the very near future.

Could someone from Github deign to respond to this thread with something usefull? Please

[dekoza]

I can't believe this is still not resolved. Time to cancel the subscription.

[DySands]

This is what fixed it for me

[victorpreston]

Okay, personally what fixed it for me, was enasbling github Pro

[DragoshDX]

Hello
Definitely cancel trial worked. (In fact I just went to Licensing as a previous comment said, and clicked start subscription).

[mailbox4655]

What worked for me immediately is deleting that budget from Budgets and alerts section instead of icreasing
(press therr dots and instead of edit just delete it). This puts you in to unlimited mode and enables usage. You can then recreate that budget with new limit.

[headshote]

I was able to solve this. And it's really retarded on github's part.

The problem is, if you are using copilot reviews in your own repos - the runs of the reviews are counted as "Actions" runs (you would see them in https://github.com/settings/billing, Actions tab, usually the "Action's" usage budget is fully discounted).

But, after using up all your premium requests in the plan, you have to:

1. Not only increase the "All Premium Request SKUs" budget at https://github.com/settings/billing/budgets
2. But also to increase the "Actions" budget as well.

After increasing it, I got my ability to use premium models in Visual Studio's Copilot Chat back, as well as using github copilot reviews. After this I just moved the "Actions" budget back to zero. The only budget that is really consumed for me is the "All Premium Request SKUs".

Extremely stupid user experience, bordering on idiotic. I hope github's team is at least paying attention to this thread's discussion, removing the annoying need to temporarily increase the Actions budget to use premium models, or at least GIVING A CLEAR MESSAGE TO THE USER WHAT TO ACTUALLY INCREASE TO KEEP USING PREMIUM MODELS, YOU DUM-DUMS

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

EDIT: P.S. And yes, for some users it also is relevant to enable the actual pro sub, and ending the trial, which I assume is not clearly communicated either but the github website. For me it was not the case, I had the Pro enabled and used for quite a while, but just ran out of my allowances due to being carried away using Opus 4.6 (3x the regular model fees)

[givi-phirtskhalava]

On the pro plan I had to do two things to unblock premium requests:

• Enable "models paid usage" here: https://github.com/settings/models
• Then set up budget limits here: https://github.com/settings/billing/budgets

Setting only the budget limits didn't work.

On free trials you may run into other issues that have been mentioned above.

[KL-Vanovis]

Thanks, I would expect it to work like that, these settings are already as stated. I'm sure there must be a restriction: if you haven't ben billed yet, because you are on a trail the paid models and budgets wont be active for you to use.

Think and hope that there are a life before trail and a life after, and within the first month you can get stuck. If a user haven't been in that situation within the first 30 days, they will never see the issue.

[givi-phirtskhalava]

Edited my answer for clarity. I was also running into this issue on a pro plan and didn't see anyone mention the "models paid usage" setting or link.

[jimEcode]

Hey guys just wanted to give a huge shout out for y'all picking up the pieces I am new to that and as much as I think I like it that kind of yeah for whatever reason was not set up right to learn for newbie so I spent many days falling into my phone like thinking I was right at the end and holding up my life and going out and seeing people and being at a meeting and I'll just always being late and strenuous nights just trying to get it done and out of my way and off my phone and all that to come home and now see that regardless it's still on my tablet but yeah I guess that's what you get for seeking self-help and getting fired

…

On Thu, Feb 19, 2026, 9:09 AM KL-Vanovis ***@***.***> wrote: Thanks, I would expect it to work like that, these settings are already as stated. I'm sure there must be a restriction: if you haven't ben billed yet, because you are on a trail the paid models and budgets wont be active for you to use. Think and hope that there are a life before trail and a life after, and within the first month you can get stuck. If a user haven't been in that situation within the first 30 days, they will never see the issue. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#166810 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/B6C4RIC7QXENAFLY77CQVZL4MW727AVCNFSM6AAAAACB5CDEJGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTKOBWGA3TKOI> . You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.Message ID: ***@***.*** com>

[davidcallanan]

It's typical. I've increased my budget from $40 to $60 and it takes sometimes hours to update. What am I supposed to do, take an entire day off work? I suppose I wouldn't mind a mid-week holiday. Maybe it's time I switch away from Copilot to something else.