About usage-based billing for licenses

Learn about usage-based billing for your licenses with the enhanced billing platform, whether you pay through GitHub or Azure.

Who can use this feature?

Enterprise administrators

The enhanced billing platform is available to:

  • All enterprise accounts, and their organizations, created after June 2, 2024
  • Enterprises that participated in the public preview program


Beginning in September 2024, GitHub will migrate remaining enterprises to the new billing platform. Enterprises will receive a notice 30 days before their migration. See the GitHub blog.

In this article

About usage-based billing

With the enhanced billing platform, you pay monthly for the number of GitHub Enterprise and GitHub Advanced Security licenses you use. You will not need to buy a predefined number of licenses in advance. Usage-based billing provides flexibility and cost savings compared to more traditional licensing models, such as volume or subscription models.

GitHub Enterprise licensing models

There are two types of GitHub Enterprise (GHE) licenses.

  • GHE (Metered): A cloud-first license where users must first be assigned to a GitHub Enterprise Cloud organization.

    • All Cloud users automatically receive a use right for GitHub Enterprise Server.
    • Billing is based on the number of active users each month.
    • Users can generate their own Server license, which covers the number of assigned Cloud seats at the time of generation and is valid for one year.

  • GHE (Volume/Subscription, also called GHE Unified): A bundled license for both GitHub Enterprise Cloud and GitHub Enterprise Server.

    • One license covers both GitHub Enterprise Cloud and GitHub Enterprise Server, allowing users to work in either or both.
    • Users can access both services via GitHub Connect.
    • This license requires manual setup and is provided by GitHub Sales.

Comparison of licensing models

License modelGHE (Metered)GHE (Volume/subscription)
Billing typeUsage-basedVolume-based
Cloud vs. ServerCloud-first, with a Server use right for Cloud users1 user license covers both Cloud and Server (hybrid, Cloud-only, or Server-only)
SetupSelf-serviceManual setup via GitHub Sales
Server license generationUsers generate their own GitHub Enterprise Server licenseLicense file provided by GitHub Sales
License file scopeCovers Cloud-assigned users at time of generationCovers all purchased users for both Cloud and Server
License expirationExpires in 12 monthsAligned with volume license term
License key usageLimits max Server usersCovers all users in the volume subscription
Required GitHub Enterprise versionGitHub Enterprise 3.13+, with GitHub ConnectNo specific version required
Billing modelInvoiced for users not assigned on Cloud via GitHub ConnectFixed cost based on purchased volume

If a user starts consuming a license during the month, you will pay pro rata for the user's license usage that month. If a user stops consuming a license during the month, your bill for the following month will reflect the change.

Pending invitations to join an organization that belongs to your enterprise on GitHub do not consume a license.

Visual Studio subscriptions with GitHub Enterprise is currently not supported for usage-based billing.

Which payment methods can I use?

You can use the following payment methods for usage-based billing for licenses:

  • Invoiced and self-serve GitHub Enterprise customers can pay using a credit card or PayPal
  • Invoiced customers can also pay using prepaid credits (only available to customers who have a volume subscription with or without metered add-ons)
  • You can connect an Azure subscription to your enterprise account
  • For purchase orders, you can contact your account manager in GitHub's Sales team