Copilot & GitHub Pre-Purchase Plans (P3) Explained
← four plans, one nickname 'P3' — which one actually covers Copilot, Cowork or GitHub
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The short version: “P3” isn’t one plan — it’s a nickname shared by four different pre-purchase plans, each bought as an Azure reservation, and each one only pays for its own set of products. Your existing GitHub Copilot credits — GitHub AI Credits — can’t pay for Cowork. But there’s one plan — the Microsoft Agent Pre-Purchase Plan — that can prepay for both GitHub Copilot and Cowork at once.
🧩 In a hurry? Your GitHub Copilot credits → can’t be used for Cowork. Want one prepaid plan that covers both? The Microsoft Agent Pre-Purchase Plan. Everything below is the why.
🧭 Jump to: The one-line answer · There isn’t one “P3” · Which plan covers what · Can GitHub credits pay for Cowork? · The one plan that covers both · Which P3 should you buy? · How credits get used up · Glossary · Sources
The one-line answer
Two questions come up again and again. Here are both, up front:
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Can a customer’s existing GitHub Copilot credits pay for Cowork? | No. GitHub Copilot’s usage runs on GitHub AI Credits — GitHub-only. |
| Is there one prepaid plan that covers both GitHub Copilot and Cowork? | Yes — the Microsoft Agent Pre-Purchase Plan. |
Everything below is the why.
Wait — there isn’t one “P3”
If you’ve read our Cost Management guide, you’ll know that in the Copilot Credits world, “P3” means the Copilot Credit Pre-Purchase Plan — and there’s no “P1” or “P2” ladder beneath it. That’s all still true.
What’s changed is that Microsoft now sells several pre-purchase plans, across different product families, and they all wear the same “P3” / Pre-Purchase Plan badge because they all work the same way: commit to an amount up front as an Azure reservation, get a volume discount, and draw it down over a one-year term.
For Copilot, Cowork and GitHub budgeting, four of them matter:
| Pre-Purchase Plan (P3) | What it pays for |
|---|---|
| Microsoft Agent Pre-Purchase Plan | Select services across Microsoft Foundry, Copilot Studio, Microsoft Fabric, GitHub, and Copilot (including Cowork) |
| Copilot Credit Pre-Purchase Plan | Copilot Credit usage only — Copilot Studio agents, Dynamics 365 first-party agents, and Copilot (including Cowork) |
| GitHub Pre-Purchase Plan | GitHub usage — the things you pay for on GitHub, including GitHub Copilot |
| GitHub AI Credit Pre-Purchase Plan | GitHub AI Credits only — the AI usage meter on the GitHub platform |
Which plan covers what
Here’s the same four plans against the things people actually want to fund. Notice that only the Microsoft Agent Pre-Purchase Plan has a “Yes” in both the Cowork column and the GitHub column:
| Plan | Cowork | GitHub Copilot | Copilot Studio | Foundry | Fabric |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Agent Pre-Purchase Plan | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Copilot Credit Pre-Purchase Plan | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
| GitHub Pre-Purchase Plan | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| GitHub AI Credit Pre-Purchase Plan | No | AI usage only | No | No | No |
Two notes on the table: the Agent plan’s public wording is “GitHub costs” — GitHub Copilot is one of the GitHub products it covers. And the GitHub AI Credit plan covers GitHub AI Credits (the AI usage meter), not base GitHub Copilot seat licences.
The mental model: the Copilot plans pay for Copilot work, the GitHub plans pay for GitHub work, and the Agent plan is the bridge that spans both.
So can I use GitHub Copilot credits for Cowork?
No — and it helps to see why, because it’s a product boundary, not a setting you can flip.
- Cowork runs on Copilot Credits, set up and managed in the Microsoft 365 admin centre. You pay for them pay-as-you-go through an Azure subscription, or prepay them with the Copilot Credit or Agent pre-purchase plans.
- GitHub Copilot is billed through GitHub — per-seat licences plus AI usage metered in GitHub AI Credits (1 AI credit = $0.01). Its pre-purchase plans (the GitHub Pre-Purchase Plan and the GitHub AI Credit Pre-Purchase Plan) only pay for GitHub usage.
So a balance of GitHub AI Credits has no path to Cowork. Different products, different meters, different admin surfaces.
📎 The line to give a customer: “Your GitHub Copilot billing — seats and GitHub AI Credits — stays on the GitHub side, so it can’t be spent on Cowork. Cowork runs on Copilot Credits in the Microsoft 365 admin centre. If you want one prepaid commitment that covers both, that’s the Microsoft Agent Pre-Purchase Plan.”
The one plan that covers both
The Microsoft Agent Pre-Purchase Plan is the unified option. Microsoft describes it as a single pre-purchase that covers “select services across Microsoft Foundry, Microsoft Copilot Studio, Microsoft Fabric, and GitHub” — and the Copilot Studio coverage explicitly includes Copilot Credit-enabled services: Copilot Studio agents, Dynamics 365 first-party agents, and Copilot. Since Cowork burns Copilot Credits, it sits inside that coverage.
In plain terms: if a customer wants one annual commitment that can pay for GitHub Copilot, Cowork, Copilot Studio agents, Foundry and Fabric together, the Agent plan is the one that does it. If they only ever touch Copilot and Cowork, the narrower Copilot Credit Pre-Purchase Plan also works.
Which P3 should you buy?
A quick way to choose:
| What you want to prepay for | The plan to look at |
|---|---|
| Copilot and Cowork only | Copilot Credit Pre-Purchase Plan (or the Agent plan, if you’d rather keep one commitment) |
| GitHub only (Copilot, Actions, Codespaces, etc.) | GitHub Pre-Purchase Plan |
| GitHub AI usage only | GitHub AI Credit Pre-Purchase Plan |
| Both Copilot/Cowork and GitHub (and maybe Foundry or Fabric) | Microsoft Agent Pre-Purchase Plan — the one that spans them |
⚠️ Pre-purchase plans are annual commitments drawn down over a one-year term, and discounts may not stack with other agreements you hold. Size them against a real forecast — model Cowork specifically with the Cowork Cost Calculator — and confirm tier pricing, renewal, and commitment treatment with your Microsoft licensing contact before you commit.
How the credits get used up
If a customer holds more than one way to pay, Microsoft draws them down in a fixed order so spend stays predictable. For Cowork and Copilot Credits in the Microsoft 365 admin centre, Microsoft’s published order is:
Capacity packs → prepaid (P3) credits → pay-as-you-go.
Prepaid credits are always used before pay-as-you-go billing kicks in, which is the whole point of prepaying — you spend the committed pool first, then any overage falls through to pay-as-you-go. For the full picture of policies, caps and the Cost Management dashboard, see our Copilot Cost Management & Billing guide.
And if a billing subscription holds both an Agent P3 and a Copilot Credit P3, Microsoft applies the Agent P3 first, billing any overage only once those credits are used up.
A quick glossary
| Term | Plain meaning |
|---|---|
| Pre-Purchase Plan / P3 | An annual prepaid commitment bought as an Azure reservation, discounted by volume. Four are relevant here, across Copilot, Agent, and GitHub. |
| Copilot Credits | Microsoft’s metered currency for agent work in Microsoft 365 and Copilot Studio — what Cowork runs on. |
| GitHub AI Credits | GitHub’s own currency for AI usage on the GitHub platform — separate from Copilot Credits. |
| ACU | Agent Commit Unit — the unit inside the Microsoft Agent Pre-Purchase Plan (Microsoft’s surfaces show it as “Agent CUs”; basically a $1 token). |
| CCCU | Copilot Credit Commit Unit — the unit inside the Copilot Credit Pre-Purchase Plan; 1 CCCU is roughly $1 of usage. |
Official Microsoft sources
- Microsoft Agent Pre-Purchase Plan — the unified plan that spans Foundry, Copilot Studio, Fabric, GitHub, and Copilot
- Copilot Credit Pre-Purchase Plan (P3) — CCCUs, tiers, Azure reservation
- GitHub Pre-Purchase Plan — prepay for GitHub usage
- GitHub AI Credit Pre-Purchase Plan — prepay for GitHub AI Credits
- Usage-based billing and cost management for Copilot Credits — how Cowork is billed in Copilot Credits
- Managing AI experiences enabled by usage-based billing — how Cowork credits (incl. Agent P3 and Copilot Credit P3) are drawn down
- GitHub billing — usage-based billing for organizations & enterprises — how GitHub Copilot is metered in GitHub AI Credits
Where to go next
- Microsoft Copilot Pricing & Tiers Explained — the hub: every Copilot plan on one page
- What Are Copilot Credits? Rates & Costs Explained — the meter behind agent work, minus the jargon
- Copilot Cost Management & Billing — spending policies, the dashboard, and the P1/P2/P3 myth
- Microsoft Copilot Cowork — Pricing Guide — the two-part Cowork model (seat + credits)
- Cowork Cost Calculator — model your own credit spend before you commit