Azure OpenAI via VerticalAPI

IN SHORT

Azure OpenAI Service hosts OpenAI's GPT-4o, GPT-4o mini, GPT-5, o1 and embedding models on Microsoft Azure with enterprise-grade SLAs, regional data residency (US, EU, UK, Asia), private networking and Entra ID identity. Pricing mirrors OpenAI list price (e.g. GPT-4o at $2.50/$10 per 1M tokens) with Provisioned Throughput Units (PTUs) for committed capacity. VerticalAPI does not route to Azure OpenAI today — it routes to Anthropic, OpenAI, Google AI Studio, and eight OpenAI-compatible providers (Groq, Cerebras, Mistral, Together, Fireworks, xAI, DeepInfra, OpenRouter). Azure issues a per-resource deployment URL and its own key pair, so it needs bespoke handling. Use Azure OpenAI's own API directly, or an OpenAI-compatible provider from that list.

Supported models

Azure OpenAI models routed by VerticalAPI

Pass the model ID below as model in any OpenAI-compatible request. New Azure OpenAI models are typically supported within 24h of release.

Model ID	Name	Context	Pricing (provider)
`gpt-4o`	GPT-4o (Azure)	128K	Azure pricing — typically matches OpenAI
`gpt-4o-mini`	GPT-4o mini (Azure)	128K	Azure pricing
`text-embedding-3-large`	text-embedding-3-large	8K	Azure embeddings pricing

Pricing reflects Azure OpenAI's rates — you pay Azure OpenAI directly. VerticalAPI adds zero markup on tokens.

Quickstart

5-line Azure OpenAI call via VerticalAPI

Drop-in replacement for the OpenAI SDK. Works with the OpenAI Python client, Node, Go, curl — anything that speaks HTTP.

                azure-openai_quickstart.py
                Python
            
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    base_url="https://api.verticalapi.com/v1",
    api_key="vapi_...",
    default_headers={"X-Provider-Key": "Azure resource..."}
)

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="gpt-4o",  # Azure OpenAI
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}]
)
print(response.choices[0].message.content)

Azure OpenAI and VerticalAPI

What VerticalAPI does and does not do with Azure OpenAI

Not routed today

VerticalAPI does not proxy Azure OpenAI. This page documents Azure OpenAI's own models and pricing so you can compare it; call Azure OpenAI directly to use it.

What it does route

11 providers behind one OpenAI-compatible endpoint: Anthropic, Cerebras, DeepInfra, Fireworks, Google AI Studio, Groq, Mistral, OpenAI, OpenRouter, Together, xAI. Switchable per request, same SDK.

No token markup on those

Bring your own key and pay the provider directly. VerticalAPI's revenue is the gateway subscription, not a share of your tokens.

Prompts are never stored

Each request is recorded as metadata only — vertical, model, token counts, latency, status. There is no column for prompt or completion text.

Best for

Where Azure OpenAI shines

data residency (EU/US/APAC) enterprise SLA VNet integration MS Defender + Purview

Frequently asked questions

What is Azure OpenAI and what models do they offer?

Azure OpenAI Service is Microsoft's enterprise hosting of OpenAI models on Azure. The 2026 catalog includes GPT-4o, GPT-4o mini, GPT-5, the o1 and o3 reasoning families, GPT-4 Turbo, text-embedding-3, DALL·E 3 and Whisper. All access requires deploying a model to an Azure resource in a chosen region, with quotas managed per deployment. Azure adds Entra ID auth, Private Link, customer-managed keys and SOC/HIPAA/FedRAMP certifications.

How much does Azure OpenAI cost in 2026?

Pay-as-you-go pricing mirrors OpenAI list: GPT-4o at $2.50/$10, GPT-4o mini at $0.15/$0.60, GPT-5 around $5/$15, o1 at $15/$60. Provisioned Throughput Units (PTUs) are sold in monthly or yearly reservations for committed capacity with predictable latency. Azure egress and Private Link fees apply. You pay Azure OpenAI directly, on Azure OpenAI's own account.

Can I use Azure OpenAI through VerticalAPI?

Deploy a model in the Azure portal (e.g. gpt-4o), grab the endpoint URL, API key and deployment name, paste them into VerticalAPI, then point the OpenAI SDK at https://api.verticalapi.com/v1. VerticalAPI translates standard OpenAI requests into Azure's deployment-based URLs and api-version headers. Billing remains on your Azure subscription.

What is Azure OpenAI best for compared to alternatives?

Azure OpenAI wins for Microsoft-shop enterprises: Entra ID SSO, Private Link, Azure region residency, EU Data Boundary, and tight Microsoft 365 / Copilot integration. Compared to direct OpenAI it adds enterprise governance and regulatory certifications. Compared to AWS Bedrock it has narrower model selection (OpenAI only) but matches OpenAI on quality. Not the cheapest path — pay-as-you-go is OpenAI list, PTUs require commitment.

Where is Azure OpenAI hosted / data privacy?

Azure OpenAI runs in 25+ regions including East US, West Europe, France Central, UK South, Japan East and Australia. Inputs and outputs are not used to train OpenAI's models. Data stays in-region with EU Data Boundary option. Customer-managed keys (CMK), Private Link, abuse-monitoring opt-out and HIPAA/SOC 2/FedRAMP High are available. Your contract and data terms stay between you and Azure OpenAI.

Limitations and trade-offs

Model availability lags OpenAI by weeks — new releases (GPT-5, o-series) appear later on Azure.
Deployment-based quotas and per-region capacity can require multiple deployments for scale.
Content filtering is on by default and stricter than direct OpenAI, sometimes blocking valid prompts.
PTU pricing requires committed monthly spend; pay-as-you-go has no SLA on latency.
API versioning (api-version=2024-…) is more cumbersome than the direct OpenAI SDK.

Where Azure OpenAI is heading

Faster model parity with OpenAI as Microsoft ships the partnership infrastructure.
Wider EU Data Boundary and sovereign cloud (Azure Government, Azure Germany) expansion.
Deeper Microsoft 365 Copilot integration with cross-tenant AI agents.
More flexible PTU sizing and on-demand reservations to compete with Bedrock.

All supported LLM providers

Same endpoint, same SDK — just change the model and the BYOK header.

Ship on Azure OpenAI in 60 seconds

Free tier — bring your own Azure OpenAI key, zero markup, OpenAI-compatible endpoint.

Get your VerticalAPI key →