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GitHub Copilot cloud sandboxes
docs.github.com/en/billing/concepts/product-billing/cloud-anCloud VMcompute/github-copilot-cloud-sandboxesJSONcomparereport an errorprovider JSON
- Free allowance
- A metered quota on the Copilot plan, with compute at $0.000024 a second, memory at $0.000003 a GiB-second and snapshot storage at $0.005 a GiB-month once it is exhausted; an account with no payment method is blocked at the quota
- Verdict
- caveatusable, with a named limit or an unprobed read path
- Cost
- not stated
- Identity
- cardcard required, no phone
- Binding limit
- request-ratecompute at $0.000024 a second and memory at $0.000003 a GiB-second once the included quota is spent
- Evidence
- documented6 sources; a first-party page was read and the sentence quoted
- Freshness
- stale on 2026-12-03checked 2026-11-02 (live); stale on 2026-12-03
| Free tier | a metered quota on the Copilot plan, with compute at $0.000024 a second, memory at $0.000003 a GiB-second and snapshot storage at $0.005 a GiB-month once it is exhausted; an account with no payment method is blocked at the quota unit seconds; metered on wall-clock |
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| Price | none stated |
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| Limits | - request-rate (binding) compute at $0.000024 a second and memory at $0.000003 a GiB-second once the included quota is spent source
- per-object-cap snapshot storage for stopped sessions is $0.005 a GiB-month source
- write-gated without a payment method, usage is blocked at the quota rather than billed past it source
not stated |
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| Identity | card A GitHub personal account with a verified email address, and a card only past the plan's included compute usage. GitHub's account page: 'To get started with GitHub.com, you need to have a personal account and a verified email address.' The billing page puts the payment method after the quota: 'If your account does not have a valid payment method on file, usage is blocked once you use up your quota.' Country limit, quoted: 'These destinations currently include Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Belarus, and the following regions of Ukraine: Crimea/Sevastopol and the separatist areas of Donetsk and Luhansk.', where Copilot 'may not be sold, exported, or re-exported to any embargoed destination' or a Country Group E:1 destination. |
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| Egress | not stated |
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| Per-object cap | not stated |
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| Retention | not stated |
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| Interface | unknown |
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| Reliability | no reliability event recorded |
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| Evidence note | documented the billing concept page was read on 2026-10-22 and states all three meters and the blocked-at-quota rule. The quota's size is in the plan, not on this page, so the record gives the meters and says where the size lives |
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Evidence 6
| date | source | what it proved |
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| 2026-10-02 | docs.github.com/en/billing/concepts/product-billing/cloud-an | not published |
| 2026-10-22 | docs.github.com/en/billing/concepts/product-billing/cloud-an | 'Compute: time that a cloud sandbox session is running, $0.000024 per compute second', 'Memory: $0.000003 per GiB second', 'Storage: snapshot storage for stopped sessions, $0.005 per GiB month', and 'If your account does not have a valid payment method on file, usage is blocked once you use up your quota', quoted |
| 2026-11-02 | docs.github.com/en/billing/concepts/product-billing/cloud-an | a payment method is what lets a cloud sandbox run past the included quota; without one, use stops at the quota |
| 2026-11-02 | docs.github.com/en/get-started/start-your-journey/creating-a | a personal GitHub account with a verified email address is the base identity for the product, and social login with Google or Apple does not remove the email gate |
| 2026-11-02 | docs.github.com/en/site-policy/other-site-policies/github-an | GitHub names the destinations from which GitHub Copilot is withheld, which is the country limit on the product |
| 2026-11-02 | docs.github.com/en/site-policy/other-site-policies/github-an | the country restriction is stated on the product itself, not only on the company |
More fields 6
| keep rate | 1.0 |
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| billing model | unclassified |
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| session cap | {"wall_clock_min": null,"idle_reap_s": null,"restart_required": false,"note": "a session bills compute and memory while running and only snapshot storage when stopped, which is the state answer"} |
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| free tier kind | allowance |
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| granularity | {"min_billed_s": 0,"rounding_s": null} |
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| ps | {"gib": null,"price": "$0.005 a GiB-month of snapshot storage","durability": "snapshot","on_stop": true,"on_destroy": false,"retention": "until the snapshot is deleted"} |
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Unknown values 10
- chaining: a source was read and is silent on this field
- egress metered: egress metering was not published
- egress terms: a source was read and is silent on this field
- interface: the access interface was not established
- limits note: a source was read and is silent on this field
- per object cap stated: a source was read and is silent on this field
- reliability note: nothing of this kind was observed
- retention notes: the field may be stated in a source that was not read
- retention stated: a source was read and is silent on this field
- tooling: a source was read and is silent on this field