{"slug": "cost-centers-now-support-ai-credit-pools", "title": "Cost centers now support AI credit pools", "summary": "GitHub now allows enterprises to cap AI credit usage per cost center via the REST API, preventing one group from using credits paid for by another. The feature automatically calculates pool limits based on assigned Copilot Business and Enterprise licenses, with UI management coming soon.", "body_md": "# Cost centers now support AI credit pools\n\nYou can now cap how much of your enterprise’s monthly included AI credits a cost center can use. This is available through the REST API today. Management in the cost center settings UI is coming soon.\n\n*Editor’s note (July 1, 2026): Clarified that this currently only applies to the REST API.*\n\nYour Copilot licenses come with monthly included AI credits that pool together across your enterprise. This included usage pool is exhausted before any additional usage is spent. Without a control in place, one cost center can spend credits during that phase that another cost center’s licenses paid for. An AI credit pool stops a cost center from using more included AI credits than its own assigned Copilot Business and Copilot Enterprise licenses fund, so each group stays within what it paid for and your chargeback boundaries hold.\n\nAn AI credit pool is separate from a cost center budget. The cap governs the included usage pool of AI credits, limiting how much of the shared pool a cost center can draw. A cost center budget governs the metered phase, capping charges after the pool is exhausted. You can use both on the same cost center.\n\nYou toggle the AI credit pool on when you create or edit a cost center containing at least one user or enterprise team. GitHub calculates the pool limit automatically from the licenses assigned to that cost center and adjusts it as you add or remove licenses, so you never set or maintain a number yourself. You can also decide what happens when a cost center reaches its cap: block further included usage or let it continue as additional spend if your enterprise allows overages.\n\nThis is available for Copilot Business and Copilot Enterprise on GitHub Enterprise Cloud and supports the [enterprise teams](https://github.blog/changelog/2026-06-22-assign-enterprise-teams-to-cost-centers) and [cost center user-level budgets](https://github.blog/changelog/2026-06-30-per-user-ai-credit-budgets-available-for-cost-centers/) releases. Together they make up GitHub’s initial suite of spend controls for AI usage at scale.\n\nTo learn more, see [Budgets for usage-based billing](https://docs.github.com/enterprise-cloud@latest/copilot/concepts/billing/budgets-for-usage-based-billing) and [About cost centers](https://docs.github.com/enterprise-cloud@latest/billing/how-tos/products/use-cost-centers).\n\nJoin the discussion or submit feedback within [GitHub Community](https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/categories/announcements).", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/cost-centers-now-support-ai-credit-pools", "canonical_source": "https://github.blog/changelog/2026-07-02-cost-centers-now-support-included-usage-caps", "published_at": "2026-07-02 16:00:51+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-07 01:26:21.921545+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-products", "ai-tools", "developer-tools"], "entities": ["GitHub", "Copilot Business", "Copilot Enterprise", "GitHub Enterprise Cloud"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/cost-centers-now-support-ai-credit-pools", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/cost-centers-now-support-ai-credit-pools.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/cost-centers-now-support-ai-credit-pools.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/cost-centers-now-support-ai-credit-pools.jsonld"}}