GitHub adds usage-based AI secret detection to push protection

WHY IT MATTERS

For teams already paying for Advanced Security as a separate add-on since July 2025, AI push protection adds a usage-based line on top of that add-on price, while AI alerts stay included. Watch whether GitHub keeps extending usage-based billing into other security products next, the way it spread from Copilot into the cloud sandbox and now Secret Protection.

BY THE NUMBERS

• GitHub's first pricing change in 131 days, vs. a ~105-day average gap
• Third usage-based billing move, counting May's Copilot shift
• Advanced Security became a paid add-on in July 2025
• AI detection for alerts stays included; only push protection is usage-based

THEIR RATIONALE

GitHub describes the new feature as using AI to detect unstructured secrets, like passwords, and block pushes that contain them, rather than flagging them after they land in the repo. This is GitHub's first pricing change in 131 days, well past its roughly 105-day average gap, and its third move tied to usage-based billing, counting the shift of Copilot itself onto that model earlier this year.

THE SIGNAL

The pattern matters more than the single feature: GitHub now has three usage-based billing moves: May's Copilot shift, June's cloud sandbox add-on, and now AI secret detection for push protection. That points to a push to meter AI-adjacent features by consumption rather than bundle them into a flat seat price. Across the wider index, 201 pricing changes at 153 companies have touched credits-and-usage billing in the last 180 days, about one in nine of all tracked changes, so GitHub metering a security feature this way fits a broader market drift away from flat pricing. Unlike the Copilot add-ons, this one meters a security control that can block a push.

IN CONTEXT

GitHub has leaned into usage-based billing since shifting Copilot itself onto that model in May, following up a month later with a usage-priced cloud sandbox add-on for Copilot workflows — this is the third move in that pattern. It lands 131 days after GitHub's last pricing change, well past its roughly 105-day typical cadence, and continues a history of carving security features out of flat pricing: Advanced Security left the Enterprise plan for a paid add-on in July 2025. Across the wider index, 201 pricing changes at 153 companies have touched credits-and-usage billing in the last 180 days — about one in nine of all tracked changes — so metering an AI security feature by usage fits a market-wide drift away from flat seat pricing.