Azure OpenAI Pricing 2026:
GPT-4o, o3 & Enterprise Costs
Azure OpenAI Service pricing for 2026 — all models, PTU provisioned throughput vs pay-as-you-go, and how Azure compares to OpenAI direct. Enterprise AI cost guide.
Azure OpenAI Pay-As-You-Go Pricing 2026
Azure OpenAI token pricing matches OpenAI's direct API pricing:
| Model | Input (per 1M) | Output (per 1M) | Cached Input |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-4o | $2.50 | $10.00 | $1.25 |
| GPT-4o mini | $0.15 | $0.60 | $0.075 |
| o3 | $10.00 | $40.00 | $2.50 |
| o3-mini | $1.10 | $4.40 | $0.55 |
| text-embedding-3-large | $0.13 | N/A | N/A |
| Whisper (speech-to-text) | $0.006/min | N/A | N/A |
Azure Provisioned Throughput Units (PTU)
For high-volume, latency-sensitive workloads, Azure offers Provisioned Throughput Units — a reserved capacity model:
| PTU Model | Monthly Cost per PTU | Throughput | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-4o PTU | ~$2,000/PTU/month | ~100K tokens/min per PTU | Enterprise, >1M tokens/day |
| GPT-4o mini PTU | ~$400/PTU/month | ~500K tokens/min per PTU | High-volume low-latency |
PTU break-even analysis: If you're spending >$2,000/month on GPT-4o pay-as-you-go AND need consistent low-latency, PTU may reduce costs while guaranteeing throughput. Below this threshold, pay-as-you-go is always cheaper.
Azure OpenAI vs OpenAI Direct: Which to Choose?
| Factor | Azure OpenAI | OpenAI API Direct |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Identical token costs | Identical token costs |
| Data residency | EU, US, Asia regions | US-only servers |
| Compliance (GDPR, HIPAA) | Full enterprise compliance | Limited enterprise controls |
| SLA | 99.9% guaranteed | Best effort |
| Private networking | VNet integration | Not available |
| Model availability | Slight delay vs OpenAI | Latest models first |
| Existing Azure customers | One bill, Azure credits | Separate billing |
Hidden Costs in Azure OpenAI
- Egress costs: Transferring data out of Azure regions incurs standard Azure egress charges ($0.05–$0.09/GB)
- Azure API Management: If using APIM as a gateway, adds $0.035/10K calls
- Content Safety: Azure Content Safety filtering adds ~$1–3/1K transactions if enabled
- Storage for fine-tuning: Fine-tuned models incur storage costs ($0.023/GB/month)
Real Azure OpenAI Cost Examples
Enterprise Chatbot (500K conversations/month)
- Average: 800 tokens in + 500 tokens out = 1,300 tokens
- Total: 400M input + 250M output tokens
- GPT-4o: $1,000 + $2,500 = $3,500/month
- GPT-4o mini: $60 + $150 = $210/month
- Using GPT-4o mini saves $3,290/month
Azure OpenAI Free Tier
Azure provides $200 free credits to new accounts, applicable to OpenAI models. For ongoing development, the Azure free tier includes limited monthly quotas. Production use requires a paid subscription.
Calculate Your Azure OpenAI Costs
Model routing, caching, and batch APIs can cut your bill by 70%+.
AI Cost Calculator