I am the founder of PromptUnit. This post first appeared on the PromptUnit blog, where the prices are kept current.
Azure OpenAI and OpenAI's own API charge the same per-token list price for the same model, as long as you use Azure's Global Standard deployment. GPT-6.1 Sol, for example, costs $2.00 per million input tokens and $10.00 per million output tokens on both. What changes your bill is the deployment type you choose (Data Zone costs 10% more in US regions), whether you pay for provisioned throughput by the hour or reserve it, batch discounts, and the Azure services around the model: support, networking and monitoring.
The Azure prices below come from Microsoft's public Azure Retail Prices API (East US 2, USD, list prices). We used the API because the official Azure OpenAI pricing page loads its prices with JavaScript, and on October 12 it said its GPT-6 Sol and Luna prices were still being published. The OpenAI prices come from OpenAI's pricing page. We checked both on October 12, 2026. Microsoft now sells Azure OpenAI inside Microsoft Foundry, so you may see it called Foundry Models. Your own price can differ with an enterprise agreement, another region or another currency, so confirm in the Azure pricing calculator or with Microsoft before you commit.
Azure OpenAI pricing for GPT-6 and GPT-5.6
Standard pay-as-you-go prices per 1 million tokens, input / output, for prompts up to 272K input tokens. Longer prompts cost more on both platforms: GPT-6 Sol, for example, goes to $4.00 / $15.00.
| Model | OpenAI direct | Azure Global Standard | Azure Data Zone (US regions) |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-6 Astra | $10.00 / $50.00 | $10.00 / $50.00 | $11.00 / $55.00 |
| GPT-6.1 Sol | $2.00 / $10.00 | $2.00 / $10.00 | $2.20 / $11.00 |
| GPT-6 Sol | $2.00 / $10.00 | $2.00 / $10.00 | $2.20 / $11.00 |
| GPT-6 Luna | $0.10 / $0.50 | $0.10 / $0.50 | $0.11 / $0.55 |
| GPT-5.6 Sol | $4.00 / $20.00 | $4.00 / $20.00 | $4.40 / $22.00 |
| GPT-5.6 Terra | $2.00 / $12.00 | $2.00 / $12.00 | $2.20 / $13.20 |
| GPT-5.6 Luna | $0.20 / $1.20 | $0.20 / $1.20 | $0.22 / $1.32 |
What the table shows:
- Global Standard matches OpenAI's list price on every model above.
- Data Zone costs 10% more than Global in every commercial US region in Microsoft's price list (the US Government regions have their own, higher prices). Outside the US it can cost 20% more: for the GPT-6 models in EU regions such as Sweden Central and West Europe (GPT-6 Sol is $2.40 / $12.00 there), and for GPT-5.5 and GPT-5.4 in Asia Pacific regions.
- OpenAI calls GPT-5.6 Sol's price promotional and says it is available at least through November 21, 2026. Azure lists the same $4.00 / $20.00 today. Check both again after that date.
- OpenAI's own models page suggests GPT-6 Astra for complex reasoning and coding, GPT-6.1 Sol to balance intelligence and cost, and GPT-6 Luna for cost-sensitive, high-volume work.
Flex and priority: half price or double
Both platforms sell the same models at a lower price for work that can wait (Flex) and at a higher price for faster answers (priority). Per 1 million tokens, input / output, prompts up to 272K tokens, from Microsoft's price list (East US 2) and OpenAI's pricing page, checked October 15, 2026:
| Model | Standard (both) | Flex (OpenAI and Azure Global) | Priority on OpenAI ("Fast mode") | Priority on Azure Global |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-6 Astra | $10.00 / $50.00 | $5.00 / $25.00 | $20.00 / $100.00 | Not listed |
| GPT-6.1 Sol | $2.00 / $10.00 | $1.00 / $5.00 | $4.00 / $20.00 | Not listed |
| GPT-6 Sol | $2.00 / $10.00 | $1.00 / $5.00 | $4.00 / $20.00 | $4.00 / $20.00 |
| GPT-6 Luna | $0.10 / $0.50 | $0.05 / $0.25 | $0.20 / $1.00 | Not listed |
| GPT-5.6 Sol | $4.00 / $20.00 | $2.00 / $10.00 | $8.00 / $40.00 | $8.00 / $40.00 |
| GPT-5.6 Terra | $2.00 / $12.00 | $1.00 / $6.00 | $4.00 / $24.00 | $4.00 / $24.00 |
| GPT-5.6 Luna | $0.20 / $1.20 | $0.10 / $0.60 | $0.40 / $2.40 | $0.40 / $2.40 |
What the table shows:
- Flex is exactly half the standard price on both platforms, and Azure lists it for Global deployments only. Microsoft's list has no Batch prices for these models, so on Azure, Flex is the half-price option for evaluations, enrichment and other background jobs.
- Priority is exactly double on both where it is listed. Microsoft lists it for GPT-6 Sol and the GPT-5.6 models; on Data Zone it costs another 10%.
- OpenAI renamed priority processing "Fast mode" on July 30, 2026. It also sells an Ultrafast tier for GPT-6 Astra and GPT-6.1 Sol at six times the standard price ($60.00 / $300.00 and $12.00 / $60.00); Microsoft's list has nothing like it.
- Cached input follows the same rule: GPT-6.1 Sol's cache reads cost $0.05 per million tokens on Flex against $0.10 on standard.
Cached input and cache writes
On the GPT-6 and GPT-5.6 models, prompt caching is billed in two parts: a cache write when a prompt prefix is first stored, and a much lower cached-input price when a later request reuses it. Azure Global Standard lists the same cache prices as OpenAI for these models, per 1 million tokens:
| Model | Input | Cache write | Cached input |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-6 Astra | $10.00 | $12.50 | $1.00 |
| GPT-6.1 Sol | $2.00 | $2.50 | $0.10 |
| GPT-6 Sol | $2.00 | $2.50 | $0.20 |
| GPT-6 Luna | $0.10 | $0.125 | $0.01 |
| GPT-5.6 Sol | $4.00 | $5.00 | $0.40 |
| GPT-5.6 Terra | $2.00 | $2.50 | $0.20 |
| GPT-5.6 Luna | $0.20 | $0.25 | $0.02 |
OpenAI's prompt caching guide gives the rule behind these numbers for GPT-5.6 and later: a write costs 1.25 times the normal input price, a read costs 0.1 times (0.05 times on GPT-6.1 Sol), and only prefixes of at least 1,024 tokens are cached. A prefix written once and then read nine times costs 2.15 times its normal input price, instead of 10 times without caching. Our prompt caching guide covers how to structure prompts so the cache gets used.
Older models: GPT-5.5, GPT-5.4, GPT-5 and GPT-4o
If you still run one of these models, here are their prices. OpenAI direct and Azure Global Standard charge the same, so they share a column:
| Model | OpenAI direct and Azure Global Standard | Azure Data Zone (US regions) | Azure Global Batch |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-5.5 | $5.00 / $30.00 | $5.50 / $33.00 | $2.50 / $15.00 |
| GPT-5.4 | $2.50 / $15.00 | $2.75 / $16.50 | $1.25 / $7.50 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | $0.75 / $4.50 | $0.825 / $4.95 | $0.375 / $2.25 |
| GPT-5 | $1.25 / $10.00 | $1.375 / $11.00 | $0.625 / $5.00 |
| GPT-5 mini | $0.25 / $2.00 | $0.275 / $2.20 | $0.125 / $1.00 |
| GPT-4o | $2.50 / $10.00 | $2.75 / $11.00 | $1.25 / $5.00 |
| GPT-4o mini | $0.15 / $0.60 | $0.165 / $0.66 | $0.075 / $0.30 |
GPT-5.5 and GPT-5.4 prices are for prompts under 272K tokens. Global Batch is half the Global Standard price on Azure, and OpenAI's Batch API gives the same 50% off these models. Microsoft's price list still has no Batch prices for the GPT-6 and GPT-5.6 models (checked October 15), but it now lists Flex at half price for them (see the Flex section above). On OpenAI, Batch and Flex are both half price, for example $1.00 / $5.00 for GPT-6 Sol.
The deployment types, in plain words
Microsoft's deployment types guide lists the options. The short version:
| Deployment type | Where your data is processed | How you pay | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Global Standard | Any Azure region | Per token | Most workloads: lowest price, new models first |
| Data Zone Standard | Inside the US, EU or APAC data zone | Per token | Teams that must keep processing inside a zone |
| Standard (regional) | Inside one Azure geography | Per token | Geography rules, low volume |
| Provisioned (PTU) | Global, Data Zone or regional | Per PTU per hour, or a 1-month or 1-year reservation | Steady high volume, steadier latency |
| Batch | Global or Data Zone | Per token at 50% off, 24-hour target | Large jobs that can wait |
Microsoft's own advice is to start with Global Standard and move to another type only for a specific reason: data residency, reserved throughput or batch jobs. Global Standard also offers Flex processing for work that can wait and priority processing for faster answers, each billed per token at its own rate.
Azure OpenAI pricing calculator: monthly costs at three volumes
Put in your own numbers below: the calculator prices a month of tokens on each Azure deployment type and on OpenAI direct.
There is an interactive Azure OpenAI cost calculator (model, deployment type, monthly tokens, cached share) in the original version of this post.
Microsoft offers an official Azure pricing calculator for whole setups. For the model itself the arithmetic is short:
monthly cost = (input tokens ÷ 1,000,000 × input price) + (output tokens ÷ 1,000,000 × output price)
The table applies that formula at Global Standard prices, which are the same as OpenAI direct, to three monthly volumes with five input tokens for every output token:
| Tokens per month (input + output) | GPT-6 Luna | GPT-6.1 Sol | GPT-6 Astra |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 million + 1 million | $1.00 | $20.00 | $100.00 |
| 50 million + 10 million | $10.00 | $200.00 | $1,000.00 |
| 500 million + 100 million | $100.00 | $2,000.00 | $10,000.00 |
On Data Zone in a US region, add 10% to every cell, so GPT-6.1 Sol at the middle volume becomes $220.00. On Flex, halve every cell: the same volume costs $100.00. For the GPT-6 models on Data Zone in the EU regions above, add 20% ($240.00).
Caching lowers the input side. Take the middle volume on GPT-6.1 Sol: if 30 million of the 50 million input tokens are cache reads and 1 million are cache writes, input costs $38.00 for the 19 million uncached tokens, $2.50 for the writes and $3.00 for the reads. That is $43.50 instead of $100.00, and the month comes to $143.50 instead of $200.00. Output costs 5 times as much as input on GPT-6.1 Sol, so long answers move the bill as much as long prompts. Use the token counts from your own usage dashboard.
Provisioned throughput (PTU): hourly or reserved
With provisioned throughput you pay for reserved capacity whether you use it or not. Microsoft bills it per PTU per hour, or at a lower rate with a 1-month or 1-year Azure reservation. List prices in East US 2 on October 12, 2026:
| Deployment type | Hourly, per PTU | 1-month reservation, per PTU | 1-year reservation, per PTU | Minimum PTUs for GPT-6 Astra, GPT-6.1 Sol, GPT-5.6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Global Provisioned | $1.00 | $260 | $2,652 | 15 |
| Data Zone Provisioned | $1.10 | $286 | $2,916 | 15 |
| Regional Provisioned | $2.00 | $286 | $2,916 | 50 |
What 15 PTUs, the Global minimum, cost for one month:
| How you pay | Cost for 15 PTUs |
|---|---|
| Hourly, all 730 hours of an average month | $10,950 |
| 1-month reservation | $3,900 |
| 1-year reservation | $3,315 a month ($39,780 a year) |
For a deployment that runs all month, the hourly rate costs about 2.8 times a monthly reservation. Microsoft's PTU billing guide says hourly billing suits short-term use such as benchmarking, and that production deployments should use reservations. It also warns that a reservation does not guarantee capacity, so create the deployment first and buy the reservation after. Other regions cost more: in Sweden Central, Data Zone Provisioned is $1.20 per PTU per hour.
Is PTU worth it? At the yearly rate, 15 PTUs cost $3,315 a month. The same money buys about 830 million input and 165 million output tokens on GPT-6.1 Sol at Global Standard prices. PTU makes sense when steady traffic would cost more than that on pay-as-you-go. Throughput per PTU differs by model (Microsoft lists GPT-6.1 Sol at 3,000 input tokens per minute per PTU and GPT-6 Astra at 600), so size it with Microsoft's PTU sizing guide. PTU also gives guaranteed throughput and steadier latency, which Microsoft says best-effort standard deployments do not. For spiky or growing traffic, per-token pricing usually fits better.
Data residency costs extra on both platforms
If your data must stay in the US or the EU, budget for it on either platform when you use recent models:
- Azure: Data Zone Standard is 10% over Global in US regions, and 20% over Global for the GPT-6 models in the EU regions we checked.
- OpenAI: its pricing page says regional processing (data residency) endpoints cost 10% more for models released on or after March 5, 2026, and FedRAMP endpoints also cost 10% more. The GPT-6 Sol, GPT-6.1 Sol and GPT-6 Luna model pages each say regional processing adds a 10% premium where available.
So for GPT-6 models with EU residency, OpenAI's list uplift (10%) is lower than Azure's EU Data Zone uplift (20%). Check the models and regions you need, and count only the options that meet your rule.
What else changes the bill
The model price is only part of a production bill. These Azure items have no direct equivalent on OpenAI's API, so price them for your own setup:
- Support. Production support on Azure comes from a paid Azure support plan. Microsoft lists Developer at $29 a month for trial and non-production use, Standard at $100 a month for production workloads and Professional Direct at $1,000 a month. Compare it with the support you get from OpenAI at your tier.
- Data leaving Azure. Azure bills outbound data transfer per GB after the first 100 GB a month, which is free. Inbound data is free. If your app runs on AWS, Google Cloud or your own servers, every response travels out of Azure and counts.
- Private networking. Private endpoints use Azure Private Link, billed per hour and per GB processed. Regulated teams often need it.
- Logging. Azure Monitor and Log Analytics bill by the GB ingested and retained.
If you already run on Azure, several of these are costs you pay anyway. If you do not, add them to the comparison. Our Claude on AWS Bedrock vs Anthropic API comparison looks at the same question for another cloud.
When Azure wins, and when it is the only option
- You already run on Azure and have credits or a spend commitment. Ask your Microsoft account team whether Azure OpenAI usage counts toward it.
- You must keep data in a region or zone and need Azure's options. Data Zone and Regional deployments exist for that. For models released since March 5, 2026, Azure's US uplift matches OpenAI's 10%. For GPT-6 models in the EU, Azure's Data Zone costs more.
- A compliance requirement decides it. Microsoft lists the certifications that cover Azure OpenAI on its compliance pages, and OpenAI lists its own on its security pages. Check both against your requirement (HIPAA, FedRAMP, SOC 2 and so on) before you compare prices. If only one of them qualifies, the price comparison no longer matters.
- You can wait for new models. New models launch on Global Standard first. Microsoft says Data Zone types follow and geography-based types come last, with no guaranteed date, so a regional deployment may wait longer for a new model.
How to choose
Four questions decide it for most teams:
- Do you already run on Azure? If yes, Azure OpenAI is usually simpler: your networking, monitoring and access controls exist, and Global Standard costs the same as OpenAI. If not, OpenAI direct has fewer extra line items.
- Must data stay in a region or zone? If yes, budget 10% more for recent models on either platform, and 20% for GPT-6 models on Azure Data Zone in the EU.
- Is your traffic steady and high? Compare a PTU reservation with pay-as-you-go using your own numbers, not the hourly PTU rate.
- Can some work wait 24 hours? Batch is half price on OpenAI, and on Azure for GPT-5.5 and older models. Our guide to the Batch API's 50% discount covers which work fits.
Cut the bill on either platform
Choosing Azure or OpenAI changes the per-token price by 20% at most in the tables above. The model you pick changes it far more: GPT-6 Astra input costs $10.00 per million tokens and GPT-6 Luna costs $0.10, which is 100 times less. Many requests do not need the most expensive model. Our guides on model routing and cutting an OpenAI bill cover smaller models, caching, output limits and batch work. To compare another provider's prices, see our Claude API pricing guide.
PromptUnit makes that choice for each request. You change two settings in your app: the API base URL, which you point at PromptUnit, and your PromptUnit key, which you add as a header. Your own provider key stays. Each request is checked, and when a cheaper model is just as good for that request, PromptUnit uses it; otherwise the request goes to the model you asked for. It works with your OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Groq and DeepSeek keys, and with your own OpenRouter key. It is free until it has saved you money, then it takes 20% of what it saves. If it saves nothing, you pay nothing. Start free.
PromptUnit does not connect to Azure OpenAI deployments directly today. OpenRouter can route to your own Azure deployment with its bring-your-own-key feature, and PromptUnit works with your OpenRouter key, but we have not tested the two together. If you need Azure OpenAI, email igal@promptunit.ai and tell us how you would use it.
FAQ
How much does Azure OpenAI cost?
On a Global Standard deployment you pay per token, at the same list price as OpenAI's own API. For example, GPT-6.1 Sol is $2.00 per million input tokens and $10.00 per million output tokens on both, and GPT-6 Luna is $0.10 and $0.50, checked October 15, 2026. Data Zone deployments cost 10% more in US regions, and provisioned throughput starts at $1.00 per PTU per hour.
Is Azure OpenAI cheaper than OpenAI?
Not on the per-token list price: Global Standard matches OpenAI. Azure can work out cheaper if Azure credits or a spend commitment cover it, or if a provisioned throughput reservation fits a steady high volume. Keeping data in a region costs extra on both: Azure Data Zone is 10% over Global in US regions and 20% for the GPT-6 models in the EU regions we checked, while OpenAI adds 10% on data residency endpoints for models released on or after March 5, 2026.
Does Azure OpenAI have a cheaper Flex tier?
Yes. Microsoft's price list now has Flex prices for Global deployments of the GPT-6 and GPT-5.6 models at half the Global Standard price, the same as OpenAI's Flex: GPT-6.1 Sol is $1.00 per million input tokens and $5.00 per million output tokens, GPT-6 Luna $0.05 and $0.25, checked October 15, 2026. Flex suits work that can wait. Microsoft's list has no Batch prices for these models.
Is there an Azure OpenAI pricing calculator?
Microsoft has an official Azure pricing calculator for whole setups. For the model itself the arithmetic is short: input tokens divided by 1,000,000 times the input price, plus output tokens divided by 1,000,000 times the output price. This page has a table of monthly costs for GPT-6 Luna, GPT-6.1 Sol and GPT-6 Astra at three volumes.
What does an Azure OpenAI PTU cost?
In East US 2 on October 12, 2026, Global Provisioned was $1.00 per PTU per hour, $260 per PTU for a 1-month reservation and $2,652 per PTU for a 1-year reservation. GPT-6 Astra, GPT-6.1 Sol and the GPT-5.6 models need at least 15 PTUs per Global or Data Zone deployment. For 15 PTUs that is $10,950 for a 730-hour month at the hourly rate, $3,900 with a monthly reservation and $3,315 a month with a yearly one.
Does OpenAI charge extra for data residency too?
Yes. OpenAI's pricing page says regional processing (data residency) endpoints cost 10% more for models released on or after March 5, 2026, and that FedRAMP endpoints also cost 10% more. So for recent models, keeping data in a region costs extra on both platforms.
Does PromptUnit work with Azure OpenAI?
Not directly. PromptUnit works with your own OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Groq and DeepSeek keys, and with your own OpenRouter key. OpenRouter can route to your own Azure deployment through its bring-your-own-key feature, but we have not tested that combination. If you need Azure OpenAI, email igal@promptunit.ai and tell us how you would use it.
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