Visual Studio 2026: Copilot Billing Tracker Added

Microsoft's June 9 Visual Studio 2026 update addresses a significant problem with GitHub Copilot billing. The update adds a refreshed Copilot Usage window that tracks AI Credit consumption in real time. This new feature alerts developers before they use up their monthly budget. Before this update, developers had to leave Visual Studio to check their GitHub billing dashboard. The need for this window became clear after GitHub switched all Copilot plans to token-based billing on June 1. Some developers found they could use an entire $15 monthly credit allotment in a single session. This led to reports of projected monthly costs jumping from $29 to over $750 for heavy use. What's interesting is that the update does not change the billing model itself. That decision remains with GitHub. However, it closes an information gap that made the model feel like a trap to many users. The bottom line is this update helps developers manage their AI spending directly within their workflow.