# Claude API vs Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models (slim)

> Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models scores 80 (A) to Claude's 77.3 (BB) for llm inference. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-azure-openai.md (~6,300 tokens) · this version ~2,530 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-azure-openai.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/anthropic-api-vs-azure-openai
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-11-07
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Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models scores 80 (A) on agent readiness against Claude API's 77.3 (BB), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Claude API leads on payments & pricing and maintenance & community. Both do llm inference.

- Claude API: BB 77.3, rank #34 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/anthropic-api.min.md
- Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models: A 80, rank #14 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/azure-openai.min.md
- Claude API, good for Long agent loops that lean on tool use, strict schemas and caching, and teams that want 1M context at Opus or Sonnet prices. Ahead on Payments & pricing, 30 against 20; Maintenance & community, 91 against 86.
- Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models, good for Teams on Azure that need OpenAI models with Entra ID, private networking, EU or US data zones or FedRAMP scope, and one resource that also serves DeepSeek, Llama, Mistral and Grok models. Ahead on Reliability, 80 against 60.

| Category | Claude API | Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 60 | 80 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 90 | 87 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 95 | 98 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 92 | 95 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 30 | 20 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 91 | 86 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 85 | 83 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Claude API | Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Anthropic | Microsoft |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.anthropic.com/v1/messages` | `https://<resource>.openai.azure.com/openai/v1` |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Licence | Apache 2.0 (SDKs from the 21 October 2026 major versions; earlier versions MIT) | Proprietary service under the Microsoft Product Terms. The v1 OpenAPI spec is MIT, and the OpenAI SDKs the docs use are Apache-2.0 |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-30 | 2026-10-26 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2026-09-01 |
| Customer content may train models | yes, with an opt-out | yes |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 3.9k stars | 454k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (4) | none |

Why the edge:
- Reliability, Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models +20: Claude API 60 (Status page at status.claude.com with component history (20). In the last 90 days (3 August to 1 November) the history pages, re-read 1 November (status.claude.com's robots.txt disallows /api/, so the incident API wasn't used), label many API incidents major and two critical, among them elevated errors across many models on 4 August (20:48 to 21:59 UTC), a critical service disruption on 16 August (21:58 to 22:34 UTC), elevated errors on Claude models on 24 August (04:50 to 07:36 UTC by the resolution note), on Mythos 5.1, Fable 5.1 and Opus 5 on 3 September (posted 13:26, impact ended 16:16 UTC), on multiple models on 22 September (posted 00:57, resolved 02:35 UTC) and on claude.ai, Claude Code, Cowork and the API on 29 September (14:00 to 14:59 UTC), so several majors (0). Since 17 October the history adds a critical incident on 23 October (Fable 5.1, Sonnet 5.5, Haiku 5.5 and fast mode on Opus 5.5, 23:28 to 23:59 UTC), and majors on Opus 5.5 on 24 October (00:31 to 00:37 UTC), Fable 5 and 5.1 on 24 October (05:16 to 05:53 UTC), Sonnet 5.5 and other models on 25 October (06:05 to 06:35 UTC by the resolution note), Fable 5.1 on 25 October (08:17 to 08:49 UTC) and Sonnet 5.5 twice on 27 October (09:14 to 09:56 and 15:09 to 15:50 UTC). The 21 and 29 July incidents left the window. Rate limits published per model, 4,000 requests a minute at the Start tier on Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5.5, Haiku 5.5 and Fable 5.x and 1,000 on older models, re-read 1 November (15). 429s carry `retry-after` (except the spend-cap 429) and the SDKs retry with backoff (15). No SLA on sale. Priority Tier capacity commitments are no longer available for purchase, re-read 1 November, and a target isn't a commitment (0, a judgement call). Messages API is GA (10). 20 + 0 + 15 + 15 + 0 + 10 = 60. Graded by agents running on Claude, by the same checklist as every other listing.); Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models 80 (Azure status page with post-incident reviews, listing Azure OpenAI Service, Foundry Models and Foundry Agent Service as components (20). One incident in the 90 days to 6 November 2026 names Azure OpenAI, and no review after it does, intermittent request failures, higher latency and HTTP 5xx errors in Sweden Central from 10:03 to 15:58 UTC on 29 September 2026 (tracking 7QL5-Z50), counted as one major outage as in the Foundry fine-tuning dossier. The 23 July West US review and the 30 September gateway incident don't name it (10). Quota tiers from Free to Tier 6 with TPM and RPM per model and deployment type, 1,000 RPM and 1,000,000 TPM for each GPT-6 model on Global Standard at Tier 1 (15). 429 responses carry `retry-after-ms`, every response carries `x-ratelimit-*` headers, and the quota guide gives exponential backoff with jitter and SDK retry settings (15). The models page says models sold by Azure are covered by Azure service-level agreements and links the Online Services SLA. The consolidated SLA document wouldn't download on 6 October and wasn't retried on 6 November, so the clause rests on Microsoft's docs, read the same way as the 5 October Azure Speech check (10). The v1 API is GA and the GPT-6 models carry no preview label (10).)
- Payments & pricing, Claude API +10: Claude API 30 (No machine payment protocol, and none named on the pricing page, re-read 1 November (0). Per-token prices published without a login (20). On 1 November the pricing page still says new users receive a small amount of free credits without saying whether a card is needed, so half (10, a judgement call, the reading most listings with an unstated card rule got, such as cronofy, laminar and modal). The monthly API credits for Claude Max, Ultra and Team plans (7 October) come with a paid subscription, so they don't count as a free tier. Keys are created in the browser Console only, and the API key page says the Admin API can't give you a key to call the Claude API, per the 15 October check (0). 0 + 20 + 10 + 0 = 30.); Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models 20 (No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Per-1M-token prices are public in the Azure Retail Prices API without a login, while the pricing page fills its table with JavaScript and showed GPT-6 prices as pending on 6 October (20). The quota tiers include a Free tier, but an Azure subscription needs a payment method (0). A person signs up for Azure in a browser and creates a resource and a deployment before the first call (0).)
- Maintenance & community, Claude API +5: Claude API 91 (Model reading. The newest release notes are dated 28 October (request size limit raised to 128 MB), 29 October (Usage and Cost Analytics API in beta) and 30 October 2026 (fast mode on Opus 4.8 deprecated, removal on 30 November) (30). Published minimum notice of 60 days for model retirements, by email and in the docs, re-read 1 November; the Opus 4.8 fast mode removal gets 31 days, which the 60-day policy doesn't cover since the model stays, and the feature is a research preview on that model (8 of 12). One model shutdown date in the last 90 days, Opus 4.1 on 5 August, kept to its notice (8 of 8). Dated release notes several times a week and a support centre (15 of 15). The Python SDK had 52 open issues, and a sampled strict-tool bug opened on 10 September had no reply three weeks later, per the 1 October check, not re-read (5 of 10). Current official SDKs, Python `anthropic` 2.3.0 and TypeScript `sdk-v1.3.0`, both tagged 23 October, after new major versions (Python 2.0.0, TypeScript 1.0.0) on 21 October that send API version 2026-10-21 by default (15). Supported runtimes stated, Python 3.10 to 3.14 (10). 30 + 8 + 8 + 15 + 5 + 15 + 10 = 91.); Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models 86 (Model reading. GPT-6.1 Terra released on Azure on 26 October 2026 and a `gpt-chat-latest` preview of 7 October was added, after GPT-6.1 Sol on 29 September (30). GA models get a retirement date 18 months after launch, set at release and readable through the Models API, with at least 60 days' email and Service Health notice, and previews at least 30 days, so a GA retirement is known more than six months ahead (12 of 12). Many shutdown dates in the 90 days to 6 November, most of them previews or partner models, among them DeepSeek-R1 (13 August), MAI-Image-2 and 2e (15 August), model-router previews (30 August), MAI-Transcribe-1 (15 September), MAI-Image-2.5 previews (1 October), the 2025-03-20 audio models and sora-2 (15 October), a Cohere Command A Plus preview (16 October) and gpt-image-1 (23 October), each in the schedule with a replacement where one exists (4 of 8). The Foundry what's new page, still on August when read on 6 November, plus Microsoft Q&A and paid support; no Azure OpenAI what's new was found (10 of 15). The SDKs are OpenAI's repositories, replies not sampled (5 of 10). Current official SDKs, `openai` 3.46.0 on PyPI (5 November) and 7.53.0 on npm, plus Microsoft's `@azure/openai` 2.0.0 companion (15). Supported runtimes stated, Python 3.9 or later and Node.js 20 or later, though `openai` 3.46.0 requires Python 3.10 (10).)

| Task | Claude API | Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Research a product and write a sourced report | $7.52 | $110 |
| Build a small four-page website | $3.89 | $25.07 |
| Find and fix a bug in a large codebase | $0.95 | $5.41 |