You can create an enterprise account specifically for managing Copilot Business licenses, without adopting GitHub Enterprise. With this account, you will have access to enterprise-grade integrations with identity providers for authentication and provisioning, without needing to pay for GitHub Enterprise licenses. See About enterprise accounts for Copilot Business.
1. Create an enterprise account
Important
If you're purchasing Copilot Business through GitHub's sales team, your enterprise account will be created for you. Skip to step 2.
You need to create an enterprise account, and the way to do that is to start a trial of GitHub Enterprise Cloud.
Set up a trial of GitHub Enterprise Cloud
Don’t create any organizations during setup. Adding users to organizations assigns them GitHub Enterprise licenses, while adding users directly to the enterprise keeps your setup limited to Copilot Business.
2. Add users to your enterprise
Once you have an enterprise account, add the people who will receive Copilot Business licenses. How you add users depends on your enterprise type.
Enterprise with personal accounts
Invite users directly to your enterprise. For detailed steps, see Inviting users to your enterprise directly.
Enterprise with managed users
If your enterprise uses Enterprise Managed Users, you must provision user accounts from your identity provider (IdP) through SCIM. For setup and provisioning guidance, see Getting started with Enterprise Managed Users.
Provisioned users will appear automatically in your enterprise’s People list. Later, you'll assign Copilot Business licenses directly to these users or to enterprise teams synced with your IdP.
3. Create teams (optional)
You can group users to scale license assignment by creating and managing enterprise teams. If you plan to manage access in groups, create those groups now. See Creating enterprise teams.
4. Enable Copilot for the enterprise
Before you can assign licenses, an enterprise owner must enable Copilot for the enterprise.
- In the top-right corner of GitHub, click your profile picture.
- Depending on your environment, click Enterprise, or click Enterprises then click the enterprise you want to view.
- At the top of the page, click Billing and licensing.
- In the left sidebar, click Licensing.
- Next to "Copilot", click Enable.
5. Assign Copilot licenses
Next, give people access to Copilot by assigning Copilot Business licenses to users or enterprise teams directly from the enterprise level.
For detailed steps, see Granting users access to GitHub Copilot in your enterprise.
6. Convert your trial to a paid enterprise account
To continue using Copilot Business after your trial, convert your trial to a paid enterprise account. See Setting up a trial of GitHub Enterprise Cloud.
Next steps
After setting up Copilot Business for your enterprise, you can help your developers start using Copilot and measure its impact across your organization. See Driving GitHub Copilot adoption in your company.
If you ever want to access the full range of GitHub features in the future, you can create organizations and add users to them.