Have you availed Copilot's 30 days free trial but get charged right away?

[raymelon]

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Curious if anyone else has experienced this and what should I expect from GitHub.

This is the first time I availed GitHub Copilot with a plan that says "Try 30 days free", so I am expecting my first month to be free.

However, upon checkout, I was charged right away.

I already opened a ticket but it's been 5 days and no one has answered.

I am now confused about this "Try 30 days free" label on their landing page.

GitHub should have not charged anything on the first place, and I am afraid that the next billing cycle will come and they will again charge me which might make me ineligible for a trial at that point.

If that happens, that will be very unfortunate and that's because their customer service is really slow, and I hope they are not being intentional on delaying responses for these kinds of tickets.

[shinybrightstar]

Welcome to the GitHub Community, @raymelon, we're happy you're here! You are more likely to get a useful response if you are posting your question(s) in the applicable category and are explicit about what your project entails--giving a few more details might help someone give you a nudge in the right direction. I've gone ahead and moved it for you. Good luck!

[raymelon]

Thanks!

[raymelon]

Will really appreciate it if the support team looks into my case @shinybrightstar

It's been a week and no response from them

[Akash1134]

Hello @raymelon,

Thank you for your question about GitHub Copilot's 30-day free trial and the charge you noticed on your account. I understand your concern about being charged despite signing up for what was advertised as a free trial.

What's happening with the charge

The charge you're seeing is most likely a temporary authorization hold (sometimes for $1 or a similar small amount) that GitHub places on your payment method when you sign up for the Copilot Pro free trial. This is a standard practice for verifying that your payment method is valid and active before the trial begins.

According to GitHub's documentation about individual Copilot plans:

Note that GitHub may apply a temporary authorization hold for the value of the usage-based costs in advance, which will appear as a pending charge in your account's payment method.

What this means for your trial

This temporary hold:

• Is not an actual charge for the Copilot subscription
• Should disappear from your account within a few business days (typically 3-5 days depending on your bank)
• Does not affect your 30-day free trial eligibility

Your free trial will still last the full 30 days as advertised, and you won't be charged for the actual subscription until after the trial period ends (unless you cancel before then).

Troubleshooting steps

1. Check if the charge is still pending: Authorization holds typically appear as "pending" transactions and should disappear within a few days.

2. Verify your subscription status:

   • Go to your GitHub account settings
   • Click on "Billing & Licensing" in the sidebar
   • Check that your Copilot subscription shows "Trial" status with the correct end date

3. Cancel if needed:

   • You can cancel your trial at any time during the 30 days, and you won't be charged
   • If you cancel before the end of the trial, you will continue to have access to Copilot until the 30-day trial period ends

Support for unresolved issues

If you've already waited 5+ business days and the charge hasn't disappeared, or if your subscription doesn't show as a trial, please follow up on your support ticket. You can also try these additional support options:

• Visit the GitHub Support portal
• Include screenshots of your billing page showing your subscription status
• Reference the date you signed up and any confirmation emails you received

For more information about billing for GitHub Copilot, please see the official documentation on billing for individual Copilot plans.

I hope this helps clarify the situation! Let me know if you have any other questions.

Best regards,

[raymelon]

Hey @Akash1134, appreciate the response.

Unfortunately,

1. I am charged 10 USD, and I have receipts both on my email and the card I used
2. There is no confirmation from GitHub that this is a temporary hold
3. Heading into Settings -> Copilot, there is no "Trial" label on anything
4. They closed my ticket without even reading what I said there. They assumed I am asking for a refund when in fact, I am questioning why they promised a trial and didn't give it.
5. It's been a week since I opened a new ticket and no one from GitHub has answered yet

[raymelon]

I will really appreciate to have someone from GitHub support team to look into my issue @Akash1134

It's been a whole week and I am about to get charged again for another month, and with no clarity as to why I didn't get the "Try 30 days free" promise.

[raymelon]

Again, I don't think charging full 10 USD is not a partial authorization charge. I can send receipts to a support member to prove this because I also got an authorization charge for 0 USD before getting charged full 10 USD. Unfortunately, it's been a week and no one is responding from GitHub.

Just letting you know about this @Akash1134.

[Zero3K]

I am also having this same issue. I got "charged" $0 and then got charged $10.

[raymelon]

Yes, it's been 2 weeks for me and no one from support has dared to look at my concern.

Sad that this is how they treat their paying users.

[namnguyen2942]

I just signed up for the trial and had the same problem. but your problem happened 3 months ago so i want to know your experience with that? did you get any official notification or refund?

[shimijallores]

i got the same problem too. I believe its because I used the "premium models" while using copilot pro free trial. Now I cant cancel the subscription.

[sudhirdevapalan13]

I was charged but the payment was reversed immediately. Might be worth checking if the transaction was reversed.

[ionutcnu]

Same here , i was IMMEDIATELY changed with half of the subscription price.

[macxdeep]

Same story with me. I was charged full amount even directly after activating free plan.

[daveraghav]

Same story here, I actually got charged a $100 for the annual subscription already automatically immediately on signing up, despite expecting on end of trial period. there's no trial period, there's only the subscription direct.

[daveraghav]

I have also just raised a support ticket. let's see if they respond, or else I may ask the bank to raise a dispute.

[raymelon]

Update: The team responded back and it turns out that I signed up for a technical review for Copilot way back.

Since my account is part of a technical review, it voided my eligibility for a trial despite me never using the granted features during the technical review launch.

Might help to check if you signed up for a technical review before or anything similar @daveraghav @Zero3K @ionutcnu @macxdeep

While this clarifies my concern, I still believe that GitHub should be transparent with their users in terms of trial eligibility.

To GitHub, I think it's fair for your users to be informed if they are eligible for a trial or anything similar before pushing them to purchase any of your service offerings. Not after, and not after weeks of waiting in the support queue.

I will also keep this discussion open until transparency measures are implemented. Until that happens, I expect more people experiencing the same issue as we did. This discussion being open will help them find answers.

I'm also tagging the first responders in @Akash1134 @shinybrightstar, you can use this thread as reference for future issues related to our situation.

[Master-r-dev]

Had same issue but was refunded in few minutes mb hour

[Aman-mania]

Same happened to me, immediately charged 10$.
I didn't get any refund yet, it's been 2 hours. Should I do something like reaching out to support?
Also, did you use american express credit card?

[Kidhurshan]

I totally get your frustration - this is really annoying when you're expecting a free trial and get charged right away. You're definitely right to be concerned about this.

What likely happened is GitHub put a temporary hold on your card during signup, but sometimes these holds show up as actual charges on your statement, which is super confusing. Other times it could just be a glitch in their system where the trial wasn't applied correctly.

Five days with no response is way too long, and I understand why you're worried about the next billing cycle. I'd suggest reaching out through different channels - try their Twitter support, community forums, or see if there's a phone number. Sometimes social media gets faster responses because it's more public.

If you're still concerned about another charge hitting, maybe temporarily switch to a prepaid card or one with a low limit while this gets sorted out, just as a safety net.

The good news is that in most cases I've seen, GitHub does make this right once they actually respond. They're usually pretty reasonable about refunding incorrect charges and honoring the free trial properly. The slow response time is definitely frustrating, but it doesn't mean they're trying to rip you off.

Keep pushing for that response and don't let them brush you off when they do get back to you. You signed up for a free trial, so you should get exactly that. This kind of billing mix-up happens more than it should, but it's usually fixable once you get someone's attention.

[archisman-rakshit]

The same happened with me here. I signed up for the Copilot Pro trial and they immediately tried to charge me 10$ for the month. The payment failed due to bank issues on my end, but now I have an outstanding payment warning on my account and the word "trial" is nowhere to be seen on the Copilot Pro on my account.

Raised a support ticket, let's see what comes of it.

[maninder321]

so what resolution you got at end?

[tzeller]

same happened to me - even worse - i got charged straight when i activated the trial pro and still have no access to ... "you have reached your monthly...." i dont believe how insecure the whole process is with github - never again and waiting to get my money back!

[tzeller]

The billing and payment is not even in my history - this feels very much like wirecard in germany at the end... they quickly charge you because they have a serious financial issue... i guess they received a big bill of tokens!

[DevEtherion]

Same here, @Akash1134 please review my case, I have created an account and added my payment method, same case as @archisman-rakshit I had only enough for the verification, but not enough for the monthly pay and same I was charged $(unsuccessfully). I would like to have my trial and then continue paying for it after my trial period ends not before. Thanks in advance.

P.D.: This message in image was visible a second after I was charged for verification.

[NorphyOG]

me too :(

[DevEtherion]

me too :(

It's been a week with no answer

[PRIYAtechky]

Yes, a few users have faced this issue before. Normally, when you see the “Try 30 days free” label, it means you shouldn’t be billed until after the trial period ends. If you were charged immediately, here are a few things to consider:

1. Authorization Hold
   Sometimes, GitHub (or the payment processor) places a temporary authorization charge to verify your payment method. This charge usually disappears within a few days and does not count as an actual payment.

2. Billing Cycle Clarification
   If it was a real charge (not just a hold), it could be due to a billing system error or because the plan you selected wasn’t eligible for the trial. For example, if you’ve already used a Copilot trial in the past, the free trial might not apply again.

3. Next Steps

   • Since you already opened a support ticket, that’s the best action. GitHub’s billing team should be able to confirm whether it was an authorization hold or a real charge.
   • Keep an eye on your billing page under Settings > Billing & plans to track your subscription status.
   • If you’re worried about recurring charges, you can cancel the subscription for now—this will prevent further billing while your ticket is under review.

4. Reassurance
   Most of the time, these cases get resolved with either a refund or confirmation that the first charge was only a temporary hold. You won’t lose your trial eligibility just because of a system error.

👉 In short: It looks like either an authorization hold or a billing misstep. Waiting for GitHub Support to respond is the right approach, but meanwhile you can monitor your billing settings and cancel if you want to avoid future charges until things are clarified.

[DarkScorpionX]

Same here, I have created this new account and clicked on 30 days free trial. I added my paypal account and I have been charged $1 and $10. Now the transaction is not showing in GitHub payment history even in paypal transactions. It's showing not authorised payment and payment is cancelled if I open payment details from mail. But $11 is deducted from my bank account. I don't know if I will get refund or it's a scam.

[myloveyaryar-lab]

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Question

Body

Curious if anyone else has experienced this and what should I expect from GitHub.

This is the first time I availed GitHub Copilot with a plan that says "Try 30 days free", so I am expecting my first month to be free.

However, upon checkout, I was charged right away.

I already opened a ticket but it's been 5 days and no one has answered.

I am now confused about this "Try 30 days free" label on their landing page.

GitHub should have not charged anything on the first place, and I am afraid that the next billing cycle will come and they will again charge me which might make me ineligible for a trial at that point.

If that happens, that will be very unfortunate and that's because their customer service is really slow, and I hope they are not being intentional on delaying responses for these kinds of tickets.

[jutaagy-wq]

dado que veo que a muchas personas les paso esto, me tome la libertad de crear una cuenta desde cero, para que tuviese la disponibilidad de aplicar al periodo de prueba de 30 días ya que la primera que use para dicha suscripción era bastante vieja ya entonces podrían usar la misma excusa, pues para novedad de nadie es la misma situación, incluso me tome la libertad de sacar captures que anexare de como claro, el primer cobro de supuesta retención para validar que sea un método de pago se hace de echo es de 0$ pero literalmente no pasan ni 2 segundos y de una te tira el siguiente cobro de claro los 40 dólares, entonces ya con la evidencia clara quisiera que en realidad alguien pertinente y con una respuesta clara mas que una evasiva de esta estafa, por que prometer un periodo de prueba para un producto para en realidad no dejarte probar si no cobrártelo entero me parece una mala actitud

cabe resaltar que luego de no poder cobrar los 40 dolares, dicho periodo de prueba se anula de forma inmediata, entonces me atrevo a decir que aunque no se "a consiencia" que igual me cuesta creerlo que no sea a drede, es una estafa por donde lo mires

[SenseiFreak]

Yea its a bunch of BS, as I have no technical review for Copilot for my account an it wants to bill me the full amount immediately. Luckily I used a card that I put just enough for just the 1 USD charge, the amount bounced and I have no free trail. This feels like Copilot wants to get you to pay for a charge, that most people who wants to check it out and does not code for a job or income, with what it looks like there is no refund possibility. It's extremely sus and up to the last confirmation the 30 day free trail is mentioned then changes to it will be charging the full subscription amount, so you technically accepted the charges without reading what it does and expecting a free trail. It looks like they are desperate to grab some money because they need to pay the investors for the billions that was invested to get these architecture in place. Just my 2 cents and the sus subtle change at the final checkout that I noticed only after the checkout was done and the insufficient funds from my bank notice.

[supernova21-glitch]

same issue, iv never used github before and they charged me for a full month too, but my bank auto declined thankfully. wtf?? free trial but its the same cost as a whole months sub? lol wtf?

[halomanlodestar]

I just opted for GitHub Pro after losing access to Claude Models in the Student Developer Pack; there was a 30-day free trial, yet I was charged for a whole month on the same day of signing up for the free trial. I can't see any mention of a free trial since the sign-up, and I've been charged already.

[shashank109]

Hi, I just opted one month free subscription and it charged twice USD 10. I dont know why they are misleading. Created a ticket. lets wait for the reply. Has anyone got the solution?