AI Coding Tools Are All Going Metered in 2026 — What Actually Burns Your Quota
By 2026 the four AI coding tools developers compare most (Cursor, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, and OpenAI Codex) have all moved toward metered usage instead of flat “unlimited” access. GitHub Copilot is the latest: it switches to usage-based billing on June 1, 2026, the same shift that triggered a refund cycle for Cursor a year earlier. The practical question is no longer “which tool is best” but “which usage system am I actually paying for, what burns through it, and how do I avoid a surprise bill.” ...