{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "azure-openai", "name": "Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models", "vendor": "Microsoft", "vendorUrl": "https://azure.microsoft.com", "kind": "model", "category": "inference", "summary": "Microsoft Azure's hosted API for OpenAI's GPT models and other Foundry Models sold by Azure, such as DeepSeek, Llama, Mistral and Grok, called through an OpenAI-compatible v1 endpoint on each customer's Azure resource.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/azure-openai", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/azure-openai.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/azure-openai.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/azure-openai.json", "dns": "azure-openai.grade.anchorterminal.com", "repo": "https://github.com/Azure/azure-rest-api-specs", "license": "Proprietary service under the Microsoft Product Terms. The v1 OpenAPI spec is MIT, and the OpenAI SDKs the docs use are Apache-2.0", "transports": [ "http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://\u003cresource\u003e.openai.azure.com/openai/v1", "packages": [ { "registry": "pypi", "name": "openai" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "openai" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@azure/openai" } ], "auth": "mixed", "authNotes": "`api-key` header with one of the resource's two regenerable keys, or a Microsoft Entra ID bearer token (scope https://ai.azure.com/.default) with the Cognitive Services OpenAI User role. Key authentication can be disabled per resource (`disableLocalAuth`). Each model must be deployed in the resource before it can be called, by deployment name.", "pricing": "usage", "pricingNotes": "Pay per token on an Azure subscription. Global Standard GPT-6 and GPT-6.1 prices match OpenAI's list (GPT-6.1 Sol $2/$10, GPT-6.1 Terra $1/$5 per million tokens), Data Zone costs 10% more, long-context requests cost 2x input and 1.5x output, cached input 0.1x, cache writes 1.25x, Flex half price and priority processing 2x (GPT-6 Sol). Batch is 50% off Global Standard. Provisioned throughput is billed per PTU hour. Prices from the Azure Retail Prices API, because the pricing page fills its table with JavaScript (checked 2026-11-06).", "priceSummary": "from $0.10 / 1M in", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the Foundry docs, the v1 OpenAPI spec or the pricing page. Access needs an Azure subscription with a payment method (checked 2026-11-06).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": 454039, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-11-06" }, "docsUrl": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/foundry/openai/", "rateLimitsUrl": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/foundry/openai/quotas-limits", "openapi": "https://github.com/Azure/azure-rest-api-specs/blob/main/specification/ai/data-plane/OpenAI.v1/azure-v1-v1-generated.json", "capabilities": [ "inference.llm", "inference.open-weights" ], "tags": [ "official", "hosted", "model", "card-required", "openapi", "openai-compatible", "closed-source", "enterprise", "eu", "python", "typescript", "status-page", "bug-bounty" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-26", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 80, "grade": "A", "agentReady": true, "rank": 14, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1486, "categoryRank": 4, "methodology": "0.7", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 98, "maintenance": 86, "payments": 20, "reliability": 80, "schema": 87, "security": 95, "transparency": 83 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-11-06" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "An OpenAI-compatible v1 API with a public OpenAPI spec, Entra ID roles in place of shared keys and FedRAMP High scope, with GPT-6 and GPT-6.1 at OpenAI's list prices on Global Standard. Access needs an Azure subscription with a card and a deployment per model, and a 29 September 2026 incident caused about six hours of failures in Sweden Central.", "bestFor": "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.", "strengths": [ "Public OpenAPI 3.2 spec for the v1 API, 71 paths covering Responses, Chat Completions, batches, files and vector stores", "Microsoft Entra ID tokens with Azure roles, and key authentication can be switched off per resource", "GA models carry a retirement date 18 months after launch, set at release and readable through the Models API", "Data Zone deployments keep processing inside the EU or US, and Azure OpenAI is in FedRAMP High scope", "GPT-6 Astra, Sol and Luna at $10/$50, $2/$10 and $0.10/$0.50 per million tokens on Global Standard" ], "weaknesses": [ "Intermittent failures and 5xx errors in Sweden Central for about six hours on 29 September 2026", "An Azure subscription with a card, a resource and a model deployment come before the first call", "No llms.txt, and no Azure OpenAI what's new page was found; the Foundry one still covered August on 6 November", "No retention period stated for prompts kept for human abuse review, and Responses data is kept 30 days by default", "The retirement schedule lists two `gpt-realtime-mini` versions twice with different retirement dates, and no GPT-6 retirement dates yet" ], "agentNotes": [ "Point the OpenAI SDK at https://\u003cresource\u003e.openai.azure.com/openai/v1/ and pass the deployment name as `model`, not the model id", "Prefer Entra ID with the Cognitive Services OpenAI User role over the resource key, which opens the whole data plane", "On 429 wait for `retry-after-ms`, then back off with jitter. The OpenAI SDK retries twice by default", "Set `store: false` on Responses calls you don't need kept. Stored responses persist 30 days by default", "Keep remote MCP approvals on for servers you don't control. They're required by default" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "A", "methodology": "0.7", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 80 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 98, "maintenance": 86, "payments": 20, "reliability": 80, "schema": 87, "security": 95, "transparency": 77 }, "provenanceScore": 88, "checked": { "categories": { "ergonomics": "2026-11-06", "maintenance": "2026-11-06", "payments": "2026-11-06", "reliability": "2026-11-06", "schema": "2026-11-06", "security": "2026-11-06", "transparency": "2026-11-06" }, "last": "2026-11-06", "oldest": "2026-11-06", "stale": false, "staleAfterDays": 90 } }, "connect": { "install": "pip install openai azure-identity # or: npm i openai @azure/identity", "http": "curl \"https://$AZURE_OPENAI_RESOURCE.openai.azure.com/openai/v1/responses\" \\\n -H \"api-key: $AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY\" -H \"content-type: application/json\" \\\n -d '{\"model\":\"\u003cyour-deployment-name\u003e\",\"input\":\"hello\"}'" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/inference.llm", "tool": "https://letme.dev/azure-openai" }, "sameCompany": [ "azure-foundry-fine-tuning", "azure-ai-content-safety", "azure-speech-to-text", "azure-text-to-speech", "microsoft-agent-framework", "microsoft-execution-containers", "microsoft-entra-agent-id", "azure-key-vault", "bing-grounding", "azure-document-intelligence", "azure-devops-mcp", "microsoft-learn-mcp", "tokeneconomizer", "playwright-mcp", "azure-mcp", "azure-maps", "azure-translator", "microsoft-graph-calendar", "azure-blob-storage", "onedrive-sharepoint", "microsoft-teams", "dynamics-365-sales", "copilot-studio-mcp", "power-automate", "foundry-local", "microsoft-decision-1", "microsoft-advertising-api", "microsoft-excel-graph", "outlook-mail-graph", "microsoft-graph-people", "mage-vl-cowork" ], "area": "models", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "GPT-6.1 Sol input, Global Standard", "unit": "1m-tokens", "usd": 2, "note": "short context, Retail Prices API meter effective 2026-10-01" }, { "item": "GPT-6.1 Sol output, Global Standard", "unit": "1m-tokens", "usd": 10, "note": "short context" }, { "item": "GPT-6.1 Terra input, Global Standard", "unit": "1m-tokens", "usd": 1, "note": "short context" }, { "item": "GPT-6.1 Terra output, Global Standard", "unit": "1m-tokens", "usd": 5, "note": "short context" }, { "item": "GPT-6 Astra input, Global Standard", "unit": "1m-tokens", "usd": 10, "note": "short context" }, { "item": "GPT-6 Astra output, Global Standard", "unit": "1m-tokens", "usd": 50, "note": "short context" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Microsoft Corporation", "domain": "microsoft.com", "domainRegistered": "1991-05-02", "domainNote": "Endpoints are on openai.azure.com and cognitiveservices.azure.com. microsoft.com publishes a security.txt, but it passed its Expires date on 2026-09-23 and was still expired on 2026-11-06.", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/terms/product/ForOnlineServices/all", "privacy": "https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement", "statusPage": "https://azure.status.microsoft/en-us/status", "changelog": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/foundry/whats-new-foundry", "securityTxt": "expired", "checked": "2026-11-06", "score": 88 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/azure-openai.json", "live": { "slug": "azure-openai", "probe": { "target": "https://\u003cresource\u003e.openai.azure.com/openai/v1", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-11-07T18:20:12.145420458Z", "lastOk": false, "lastStatus": 0, "lastMs": 0, "lastNote": "DNS lookup failed", "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 0, "uptime30d": 0, "p50ms24h": 0, "p95ms24h": 0, "samples24h": 200, "samples30d": 200, "days": [ { "date": "2026-11-06", "probes": 13, "ok": 0 }, { "date": "2026-11-07", "probes": 187, "ok": 0 } ], "outages": [ { "start": "2026-11-06T22:45:05.888142257Z", "end": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "note": "DNS lookup failed" } ] }, "versions": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "@azure/openai", "version": "2.0.0", "seenAt": "2026-11-06T23:09:28.988578937Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "openai", "version": "7.53.0", "seenAt": "2026-11-06T23:09:28.954764315Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "openai", "version": "3.46.0", "released": "2026-11-05", "seenAt": "2026-11-06T23:09:28.844701934Z" } ], "githubStars": 3113, "npmWeekly": 56543040, "pypiWeekly": 91156146, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://microsoft.com/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "valid", "expires": "2027-10-27T16:00:00.000Z", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T16:02:01.196666056Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/foundry/openai/concepts/model-retirement-schedule", "kind": "deprecations", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:13:01.613678733Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "51438ff38076" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-11-07T18:20:12.145420458Z" } }, "answer": "Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models scores 80 (A) on agent readiness against Hugging Face Inference Providers's 54 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.", "b": { "slug": "hugging-face-inference-providers", "name": "Hugging Face Inference Providers", "vendor": "Hugging Face, Inc.", "vendorUrl": "https://huggingface.co", "kind": "router", "category": "inference", "summary": "Hugging Face's serverless router that sends model calls to partner inference providers such as Groq, Cerebras, Together and Fireworks through one Hugging Face token, with an OpenAI-compatible API at router.huggingface.co/v1 and Python and JavaScript clients.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/hugging-face-inference-providers", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/hugging-face-inference-providers.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/hugging-face-inference-providers.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/hugging-face-inference-providers.json", "dns": "hugging-face-inference-providers.grade.anchorterminal.com", "repo": "https://github.com/huggingface/huggingface_hub", "license": "Proprietary service under the Hugging Face Terms of Service, which name Inference Providers. The `huggingface_hub` Python client is Apache-2.0 and `@huggingface/inference` is MIT", "transports": [ "http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://router.huggingface.co/v1", "packages": [ { "registry": "pypi", "name": "huggingface_hub" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@huggingface/inference" } ], "auth": "api-key", "authNotes": "Hugging Face user access token sent as `Authorization: Bearer $HF_TOKEN`. The docs recommend a fine-grained token with only the `Make calls to Inference Providers` permission. Tokens are made in account settings in a browser, can be rotated and revoked, and a leaked token can be revoked by anyone through `POST /api/credentials/revoke`. A provider's own key can be stored in settings instead, and Hugging Face swaps it in when routing.", "pricing": "usage", "pricingNotes": "Pay as you go at each provider's own per-token rates with no Hugging Face markup, drawn from prepaid credits on the Hugging Face account. Free users get no included credits since 7 October 2026 and must buy credits. PRO users and Team or Enterprise seats get $2.00 a month of compute credits. Requests with a custom provider key are billed by the provider (https://huggingface.co/docs/inference-providers/pricing, checked 2026-11-06).", "priceSummary": "$2 / mo", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the Inference Providers docs, llms.txt or the router's model list. Calls draw on prepaid Hugging Face credits bought in the account's billing settings (checked 2026-11-06).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": 483470, "pypiWeekly": 71518708, "asOf": "2026-11-06" }, "docsUrl": "https://huggingface.co/docs/inference-providers/index", "llmsTxt": "https://huggingface.co/docs/inference-providers/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "inference.router", "inference.open-weights", "inference.llm" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "router", "usage", "prepaid", "openai-compatible", "llms-txt", "python", "javascript", "status-page", "soc2" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-29", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 54, "grade": "C", "agentReady": false, "rank": 920, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1486, "categoryRank": 28, "methodology": "0.7", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 58, "maintenance": 80, "payments": 20, "reliability": 25, "schema": 62, "security": 79, "transparency": 71 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-11-06" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "One Hugging Face token reaches open models on 18 partner providers at the providers' own prices, with a public model list that shows each provider's price, context and tool support. Router rate limits, error responses and its own status component were not found in the reviewed documentation, and free accounts have had no included credits since 7 October 2026.", "bestFor": "Agents and developers who want open-weight models from several hosts on one token and one bill, with a public price and capability list per provider.", "strengths": [ "router.huggingface.co/v1/models lists every routed model with each provider's price, context, tool support, latency and throughput, without a token", "Provider choice by suffix (`:fastest`, `:cheapest`, `:preferred` or a provider name) on an OpenAI-compatible endpoint", "Fine-grained tokens can be limited to the `Make calls to Inference Providers` permission and revoked at once", "No markup on provider rates, and request bodies and responses are not stored when routed", "Official clients in Python (`huggingface_hub` 2.4.0, 29 October 2026) and JavaScript (`@huggingface/inference` 4.13.32)" ], "weaknesses": [ "No rate limits, 429 behaviour or error responses documented for the router", "status.huggingface.co has no component for Inference Providers or the router", "Free users have had no included credits since 7 October 2026, and buying credits needs a person in the account settings", "No OpenAPI document for the router, no batch API, and the Responses API is beta", "Data handling past the router depends on each provider's own policy" ], "agentNotes": [ "Read https://router.huggingface.co/v1/models before choosing a provider; it shows price, context and `supports_tools` per provider", "Pin a provider with `model:\u003cprovider\u003e` when tool calling or structured output matters, since support varies by provider", "Use a fine-grained token with only the Inference Providers permission, and send `X-HF-Bill-To` to bill an organisation", "Back off on 429 without assuming a Retry-After header, since none is documented for the router" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "C", "methodology": "0.7", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 54 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 58, "maintenance": 80, "payments": 20, "reliability": 25, "schema": 62, "security": 79, "transparency": 58 }, "provenanceScore": 84, "checked": { "categories": { "ergonomics": "2026-11-06", "maintenance": "2026-11-06", "payments": "2026-11-06", "reliability": "2026-11-06", "schema": "2026-11-06", "security": "2026-11-06", "transparency": "2026-11-06" }, "last": "2026-11-06", "oldest": "2026-11-06", "stale": false, "staleAfterDays": 90 } }, "connect": { "install": "pip install huggingface_hub # or: pip install openai, with base_url https://router.huggingface.co/v1", "http": "curl https://router.huggingface.co/v1/chat/completions \\\n -H \"Authorization: Bearer $HF_TOKEN\" -H \"Content-Type: application/json\" \\\n -d '{\"model\":\"openai/gpt-oss-120b:fastest\",\"messages\":[{\"role\":\"user\",\"content\":\"How many Gs in huggingface?\"}]}'" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/inference.router", "tool": "https://letme.dev/hugging-face-inference-providers" }, "sameCompany": [ "hugging-face-inference-endpoints", "smolagents", "carbon-x", "smollm3-3b" ], "area": "models", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "openai/gpt-oss-120b input, cheapest provider listed (DeepInfra)", "unit": "1m-tokens", "usd": 0.037, "note": "Output $0.17. Groq lists $0.15/$0.75 and Cerebras $0.35/$0.75, per the router's model list of 6 November 2026" }, { "item": "PRO monthly compute credits", "unit": "month", "usd": 2, "note": "Also $2.00 per seat for Team and Enterprise organisations" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Hugging Face, Inc.", "domain": "huggingface.co", "domainRegistered": "", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://huggingface.co/terms-of-service", "privacy": "https://huggingface.co/privacy", "statusPage": "https://status.huggingface.co", "changelog": "https://huggingface.co/changelog", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-11-06", "notes": [ "The Terms of Service (effective 15 September 2022) name Hugging Face, Inc. and define Inference Providers as a hosted service for running inference through an API on Hub models.", "huggingface.co/robots.txt and router.huggingface.co/robots.txt allow all. status.huggingface.co serves an empty robots.txt.", "status.huggingface.co is a Better Stack page with components for the Hub, git hosting, Inference Endpoints, Spaces, the CDNs and Jobs, and none for Inference Providers or the router.", "huggingface.co/changelog covers the whole Hub and had no Inference Providers entry on its first page on 6 November 2026. Dated changes to the docs are in the hub-docs repository's history.", "security.txt, privacy policy and subprocessor list as recorded on the Inference Endpoints listing (checked 8 October and 2 November 2026); not re-read for this listing." ], "score": 84 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/hugging-face-inference-providers.json", "live": { "slug": "hugging-face-inference-providers", "probe": { "target": "https://router.huggingface.co/v1", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-11-07T18:20:30.999057368Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 404, "lastMs": 188, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 108, "p95ms24h": 196, "samples24h": 200, "samples30d": 200, "days": [ { "date": "2026-11-06", "probes": 13, "ok": 13 }, { "date": "2026-11-07", "probes": 187, "ok": 187 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.huggingface.co", "indicator": "unknown", "summary": "no machine-readable status found", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T04:47:55.542550557Z" }, "versions": [ { "registry": "github", "name": "huggingface/huggingface_hub", "version": "v2.4.0", "released": "2026-10-29", "seenAt": "2026-11-06T23:33:27.894225298Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@huggingface/inference", "version": "4.13.32", "seenAt": "2026-11-06T23:33:27.102558197Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "huggingface_hub", "version": "2.4.0", "released": "2026-10-29", "seenAt": "2026-11-06T23:33:26.910773744Z" } ], "githubStars": 4034, "npmWeekly": 483470, "pypiWeekly": 71518708, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://huggingface.co/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "valid", "expires": "2030-07-01T08:42:00.000Z", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T16:00:00.493446773Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://huggingface.co/docs/inference-providers/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T15:32:44.910268229Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://huggingface.co/docs/inference-providers/pricing", "kind": "pricing", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:11:37.221950067Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "2cbe821ca9d2" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-11-07T18:20:30.999057368Z" } }, "edges": [ { "by": 55, "category": "reliability", "leads": "azure-openai", "name": "Reliability", "reasons": { "a": "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).", "b": "Hosted lines. status.huggingface.co is a Better Stack page with 90-day component history for the Hub, Inference Endpoints, Spaces, the CDNs and Jobs, but no component for Inference Providers or the router (10 of 20). With no component, there is no readable incident history for the surface agents call, and the feed's 23 items from 10 June to 7 October 2026 don't name it (5). No rate limits for the router were found; the Hub rate-limits page gives numbers for Hub APIs, resolvers and pages only (0). No 429 or overload guidance for the router was found (0). No SLA found (0). Chat completions on the router is generally available; the Responses API is labelled beta (10). Routing between providers with `:fastest` or `:cheapest` softens a single provider's outage, which this checklist doesn't score." }, "scores": { "a": 80, "b": 25 } }, { "by": 40, "category": "ergonomics", "leads": "azure-openai", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "reasons": { "a": "Model reading of the checklist (tool use, structured output, caching, context, batch, SDKs, errors). Tool use with parallel calls and a forced call by naming the function in `tool_choice`, 18 of 20 because `gpt-6.1-sol` calls tools only through the Responses API (18). Strict structured outputs (15). Prompt caching from 1,024 tokens, cached input at 0.1x on GPT-6 ($1 per million on Astra) and cache writes at 1.25x from GPT-5.6 on, with explicit breakpoints (15). 1,050,000-token context on GPT-6 and GPT-6.1, input capped at 922,000 (15). Batch at 50% off Global Standard with a 24-hour target (10). The docs use OpenAI's own SDKs for Python, JavaScript, C#, Go and Java against the v1 endpoint (10). 429 and quota errors documented with retry headers (15). Calls name a deployment rather than a model, so each model must be deployed in the resource first, which the model checklist doesn't score.", "b": "Router reading of the model checklist (tool use, structured output, caching, context, batch, SDKs, errors), as for openrouter. Tool calling through the OpenAI-compatible API with `tool_choice`, support flagged per provider in /v1/models (15 of 20). Structured output documented, support flagged per provider and false on some (10 of 15). No prompt caching guidance found, though the Enterprise usage API counts cached input tokens (3 of 15). Routes to models with up to 1,048,576 tokens of context per the model list, a judgement call since a router has no default model (15). No batch API (0 of 10). Official clients in Python and JavaScript, plus any OpenAI SDK (10). Errors not documented (5 of 15)." }, "scores": { "a": 98, "b": 58 } }, { "by": 25, "category": "schema", "leads": "azure-openai", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "reasons": { "a": "OpenAPI 3.2 spec for the v1 data plane in Azure/azure-rest-api-specs (`azure-v1-v1-generated.json`, 71 paths and 852 schemas), linked from the v1 API page (25). No llms.txt at learn.microsoft.com (404). Learn pages offer Copy Markdown and the Markdown sources are public in MicrosoftDocs/azure-ai-docs, last merged 5 October (5 of 10). The models page lists each model's capabilities, context and API support, but the model choice guide, dated 19 May 2026, doesn't cover GPT-6 (15 of 20). Structured outputs with `strict: true` on schemas and function tools, though not together with parallel function calls (15). Examples in Python, C#, JavaScript, Go, Java and REST, and an error table on the quotas page with a fix for 429 and other codes (15). The v1 path replaces monthly `api-version` values, with preview capabilities opted into by header, a dated API version changelog and dated model versions. On 6 November the Foundry what's new still covered August, though updated on 5 November, and no Azure OpenAI what's new was found at learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/foundry/openai/whats-new, which answered 404 (12 of 15).", "b": "No OpenAPI document for the router (openapi.json paths answer 404). The task reference pages are generated from typed JSON Schema specs in huggingface.js, and the router's /v1/models gives a machine-readable catalogue, so 12 of 25. llms.txt for the Inference Providers docs and a Markdown twin of every page via `.md` (10). Guides say what each task and policy is for, with a quick setup page for coding agents (14 of 20). Parameter tables with types for chat completion, though `response_format` and `tool_choice` show as unknown types (9 of 15). Examples in Python, JavaScript and curl on every task page, but no documented error responses for the router (9 of 15). No changelog of its own; the Hub changelog doesn't cover it and dated changes are only in the hub-docs history (8 of 15)." }, "scores": { "a": 87, "b": 62 } }, { "by": 16, "category": "security", "leads": "azure-openai", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "reasons": { "a": "Model reading. Microsoft Entra ID tokens with Azure roles (the Cognitive Services OpenAI User role for calls), managed identities, and key authentication that can be disabled per resource, or two regenerable resource keys in the `api-key` header. No documented route puts the key in a URL query string (30). Prompts, completions, embeddings and training data aren't used to train foundation models without the customer's permission or instruction, per the data privacy page updated 4 August 2026 (20). Flagged prompts and completions may be stored in the customer's geography for human abuse review, with no retention period stated, and approved customers can turn that storage off through modified abuse monitoring. Responses API data is kept 30 days by default unless `store` is false (12 of 15). Azure Monitor resource logs and the subscription activity log, as read in the Foundry fine-tuning dossier (15). MSRC coordinated disclosure policy and Microsoft's bounty programme, both named in microsoft.com's security.txt, and Azure OpenAI is listed in FedRAMP High and DoD IL2 scope in Azure public regions. The security.txt passed its Expires date on 2026-09-23 and was still expired on 6 November, which the Bedrock and S3 dossiers mark down by 2, applied here too (18 of 20, down from 20 on 6 October for consistency).", "b": "Model reading. Fine-grained user access tokens that can be limited to the `Make calls to Inference Providers` permission, rotated and revoked, plus a public revocation endpoint for leaked tokens, and organisation approval of fine-grained tokens on paid plans (30). Hugging Face says it doesn't store user data for training, but data handling past the router follows each provider's policy, with no per-request filter to exclude providers that train or retain (12 of 20). Request bodies and responses aren't stored when routed and debug logs are kept up to 30 days without user data or tokens, with provider retention outside that statement (10 of 15). Usage by model and provider in account settings, an Enterprise usage API, and Team and Enterprise admins can disable providers and set a spending limit (13 of 15). SOC 2 Type 2 for the Hub, of which the docs say Inference Providers is a feature, and security.txt valid to 2030 per the Inference Endpoints check; no bug bounty found (14 of 20)." }, "scores": { "a": 95, "b": 79 } }, { "by": 12, "category": "transparency", "leads": "azure-openai", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "reasons": { "a": "Closed service under the Microsoft Product Terms, with the v1 spec under MIT and the OpenAI SDKs under Apache-2.0 (15). The data privacy page agrees with the product terms on no training and states where data is processed and stored by deployment type, but gives no retention period for the human-review store and sits beside a 30-day default for Responses data (24 of 30). A published lifecycle policy and a retirement schedule with dates and replacements, but on 6 November the schedule listed `gpt-realtime-mini` 2025-10-06 and 2025-12-15 twice each with different retirement dates, and no GPT-6 model yet (18 of 20, down from 20). Data locations stated for Standard, Data Zone and Global deployments, and a public sub-processor list per the 5 October Azure Speech check, not re-read (20).", "b": "Closed service under Terms of Service that name Inference Providers, with an Apache-2.0 Python client and an MIT JavaScript client (20). The security page and the docs agree on no training, no stored bodies and 30-day logs, but the privacy policy dates from 28 March 2023 and each provider's own data policy governs the rest (18 of 30). No deprecation policy found. Provider support changes and the 7 October removal of free credits are dated only in the docs repository history (5 of 20). The privacy policy lists 11 subprocessors with countries per the Inference Endpoints check, and the docs name every provider a request can reach, though not where each runs (15 of 20)." }, "scores": { "a": 83, "b": 71 } }, { "by": 6, "category": "maintenance", "leads": "azure-openai", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "reasons": { "a": "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\u0026A 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).", "b": "Model reading. huggingface_hub 2.4.0 tagged on 29 October 2026 and the Inference Providers docs updated daily by an automated job, last on 6 November (30). huggingface_hub 2.2.0, 2.3.0 and 2.4.0 and @huggingface/inference 4.13.28 to 4.13.32 in the 90 days (20). No dedicated changelog; the Hub has a forum and Discord, and GitHub issue replies were not read (8 of 15). Current official SDKs in Python and JavaScript (15). The Python client supports Python 3.10 and later, per the Inference Endpoints check; CI not read (7 of 10)." }, "scores": { "a": 86, "b": 80 } } ], "facts": [ { "a": "Model API", "b": "Model router", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Microsoft", "b": "Hugging Face, Inc.", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "https://\u003cresource\u003e.openai.azure.com/openai/v1", "b": "https://router.huggingface.co/v1", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "HTTP", "b": "HTTP", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "OAuth or key", "b": "API key", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Pay per use", "b": "Pay per use", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "Proprietary service under the Microsoft Product Terms. The v1 OpenAPI spec is MIT, and the OpenAI SDKs the docs use are Apache-2.0", "b": "Proprietary service under the Hugging Face Terms of Service, which name Inference Providers. The `huggingface_hub` Python client is Apache-2.0 and `@huggingface/inference` is MIT", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "no", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-10-26", "b": "2026-10-29", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "no date given", "b": "2022-09-15", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "2026-09-01", "b": "2023-03-28", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "454k npm/wk", "b": "483k npm/wk, 71.5M PyPI/wk", "name": "Popularity" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models scores 80 (A) on agent readiness against Hugging Face Inference Providers's 54 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models or Hugging Face Inference Providers?" }, { "answer": "Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Hugging Face Inference Providers needs an API key.", "question": "Do Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models and Hugging Face Inference Providers need an API key?" }, { "answer": "Yes. Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models has a hosted endpoint at https://\u003cresource\u003e.openai.azure.com/openai/v1 and Hugging Face Inference Providers at https://router.huggingface.co/v1.", "question": "Can an agent call Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models and Hugging Face Inference Providers without installing anything?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 80 against 25", "Schema \u0026 documentation, 87 against 62", "Agent ergonomics, 98 against 58", "Security \u0026 auth, 95 against 79", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 86 against 80", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 83 against 71" ], "also": [ "Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better" ], "goodFor": "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.", "slug": "azure-openai", "watchFor": "Intermittent failures and 5xx errors in Sweden Central for about six hours on 29 September 2026" }, { "aheadOn": null, "also": null, "goodFor": "Agents and developers who want open-weight models from several hosts on one token and one bill, with a public price and capability list per provider.", "slug": "hugging-face-inference-providers", "watchFor": "No rate limits, 429 behaviour or error responses documented for the router" } ], "history": null, "job": { "capability": "inference.llm", "name": "LLM inference" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-bedrock-vs-azure-openai.json", "title": "Amazon Bedrock vs Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-bedrock-vs-azure-openai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-bedrock-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers.json", "title": "Amazon Bedrock vs Hugging Face Inference Providers", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-bedrock-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers" }, { "json": 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"Hugging Face Inference Providers vs SWE-2 Flash", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-swe-2-flash" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-together-inference.json", "title": "Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Together AI Inference", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-together-inference" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-vertex-ai.json", "title": "Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Vertex AI (Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-vertex-ai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-xai-api.json", "title": "Hugging Face Inference Providers vs xAI API (Grok)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-xai-api" }, { "json": 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"https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-openrouter" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-ramp-router.json", "title": "Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Router.com (Ramp Router)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-ramp-router" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-routerplus.json", "title": "Hugging Face Inference Providers vs RouterPlus", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-routerplus" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-tencent-tokenhub.json", "title": "Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Tencent Cloud TokenHub", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-tencent-tokenhub" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-vercel-ai-gateway.json", "title": "Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Vercel AI Gateway", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-vercel-ai-gateway" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-nemotron-3-5-super-vl.json", "title": "Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Nemotron 3.5 Super VL", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-nemotron-3-5-super-vl" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-prism-inference.json", "title": "Hugging Face Inference Providers vs Prism Inference", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hugging-face-inference-providers-vs-prism-inference" } ], "panel": null, "scores": [ { "azure-openai": 80, "by": 55, "edge": "azure-openai", "hugging-face-inference-providers": 25, "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "azure-openai": 87, "by": 25, "edge": "azure-openai", "hugging-face-inference-providers": 62, "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "weight": 13 }, { "azure-openai": 98, "by": 40, "edge": "azure-openai", "hugging-face-inference-providers": 58, "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "weight": 13 }, { "azure-openai": 95, "by": 16, "edge": "azure-openai", "hugging-face-inference-providers": 79, "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "weight": 14 }, { "azure-openai": 20, "by": 0, "edge": "", "hugging-face-inference-providers": 20, "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "azure-openai": 86, "by": 6, "edge": "azure-openai", "hugging-face-inference-providers": 80, "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "weight": 7 }, { "azure-openai": 83, "by": 12, "edge": "azure-openai", "hugging-face-inference-providers": 71, "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models scores 80 (A) on agent readiness against Hugging Face Inference Providers's 54 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do llm inference.", "tasks": null, "tutorials": [], "verdicts": { "azure-openai": "An OpenAI-compatible v1 API with a public OpenAPI spec, Entra ID roles in place of shared keys and FedRAMP High scope, with GPT-6 and GPT-6.1 at OpenAI's list prices on Global Standard. Access needs an Azure subscription with a card and a deployment per model, and a 29 September 2026 incident caused about six hours of failures in Sweden Central.", "hugging-face-inference-providers": "One Hugging Face token reaches open models on 18 partner providers at the providers' own prices, with a public model list that shows each provider's price, context and tool support. Router rate limits, error responses and its own status component were not found in the reviewed documentation, and free accounts have had no included credits since 7 October 2026." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-openai-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-openai-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-openai-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers.md", "mcp": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-openai-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers.min.md" }, "markdown": "Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models scores 80 (A) on agent readiness against Hugging Face Inference Providers's 54 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do llm inference.\n\n- Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models: grade A, 80/100, rank #14 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/azure-openai.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/azure-openai.json\n- Hugging Face Inference Providers: grade C, 54/100, rank #920 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/hugging-face-inference-providers.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/hugging-face-inference-providers.json\n- Best model APIs and inference for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/inference/index.md\n- All 830 models comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inference/index.md\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models (A)\n\nGood 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.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 80 against 25\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 87 against 62\n- Agent ergonomics, 98 against 58\n- Security \u0026 auth, 95 against 79\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 86 against 80\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 83 against 71\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better\n\nWatch for: Intermittent failures and 5xx errors in Sweden Central for about six hours on 29 September 2026\n\n### Hugging Face Inference Providers (C)\n\nGood for: Agents and developers who want open-weight models from several hosts on one token and one bill, with a public price and capability list per provider.\n\nWatch for: No rate limits, 429 behaviour or error responses documented for the router\n\n\n## Why the edge\n\n### Reliability: Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models +55\n\n- 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).\n- Hugging Face Inference Providers (25): Hosted lines. status.huggingface.co is a Better Stack page with 90-day component history for the Hub, Inference Endpoints, Spaces, the CDNs and Jobs, but no component for Inference Providers or the router (10 of 20). With no component, there is no readable incident history for the surface agents call, and the feed's 23 items from 10 June to 7 October 2026 don't name it (5). No rate limits for the router were found; the Hub rate-limits page gives numbers for Hub APIs, resolvers and pages only (0). No 429 or overload guidance for the router was found (0). No SLA found (0). Chat completions on the router is generally available; the Responses API is labelled beta (10). Routing between providers with `:fastest` or `:cheapest` softens a single provider's outage, which this checklist doesn't score.\n\n### Agent ergonomics: Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models +40\n\n- Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models (98): Model reading of the checklist (tool use, structured output, caching, context, batch, SDKs, errors). Tool use with parallel calls and a forced call by naming the function in `tool_choice`, 18 of 20 because `gpt-6.1-sol` calls tools only through the Responses API (18). Strict structured outputs (15). Prompt caching from 1,024 tokens, cached input at 0.1x on GPT-6 ($1 per million on Astra) and cache writes at 1.25x from GPT-5.6 on, with explicit breakpoints (15). 1,050,000-token context on GPT-6 and GPT-6.1, input capped at 922,000 (15). Batch at 50% off Global Standard with a 24-hour target (10). The docs use OpenAI's own SDKs for Python, JavaScript, C#, Go and Java against the v1 endpoint (10). 429 and quota errors documented with retry headers (15). Calls name a deployment rather than a model, so each model must be deployed in the resource first, which the model checklist doesn't score.\n- Hugging Face Inference Providers (58): Router reading of the model checklist (tool use, structured output, caching, context, batch, SDKs, errors), as for openrouter. Tool calling through the OpenAI-compatible API with `tool_choice`, support flagged per provider in /v1/models (15 of 20). Structured output documented, support flagged per provider and false on some (10 of 15). No prompt caching guidance found, though the Enterprise usage API counts cached input tokens (3 of 15). Routes to models with up to 1,048,576 tokens of context per the model list, a judgement call since a router has no default model (15). No batch API (0 of 10). Official clients in Python and JavaScript, plus any OpenAI SDK (10). Errors not documented (5 of 15).\n\n### Schema \u0026 documentation: Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models +25\n\n- Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models (87): OpenAPI 3.2 spec for the v1 data plane in Azure/azure-rest-api-specs (`azure-v1-v1-generated.json`, 71 paths and 852 schemas), linked from the v1 API page (25). No llms.txt at learn.microsoft.com (404). Learn pages offer Copy Markdown and the Markdown sources are public in MicrosoftDocs/azure-ai-docs, last merged 5 October (5 of 10). The models page lists each model's capabilities, context and API support, but the model choice guide, dated 19 May 2026, doesn't cover GPT-6 (15 of 20). Structured outputs with `strict: true` on schemas and function tools, though not together with parallel function calls (15). Examples in Python, C#, JavaScript, Go, Java and REST, and an error table on the quotas page with a fix for 429 and other codes (15). The v1 path replaces monthly `api-version` values, with preview capabilities opted into by header, a dated API version changelog and dated model versions. On 6 November the Foundry what's new still covered August, though updated on 5 November, and no Azure OpenAI what's new was found at learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/foundry/openai/whats-new, which answered 404 (12 of 15).\n- Hugging Face Inference Providers (62): No OpenAPI document for the router (openapi.json paths answer 404). The task reference pages are generated from typed JSON Schema specs in huggingface.js, and the router's /v1/models gives a machine-readable catalogue, so 12 of 25. llms.txt for the Inference Providers docs and a Markdown twin of every page via `.md` (10). Guides say what each task and policy is for, with a quick setup page for coding agents (14 of 20). Parameter tables with types for chat completion, though `response_format` and `tool_choice` show as unknown types (9 of 15). Examples in Python, JavaScript and curl on every task page, but no documented error responses for the router (9 of 15). No changelog of its own; the Hub changelog doesn't cover it and dated changes are only in the hub-docs history (8 of 15).\n\n### Security \u0026 auth: Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models +16\n\n- Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models (95): Model reading. Microsoft Entra ID tokens with Azure roles (the Cognitive Services OpenAI User role for calls), managed identities, and key authentication that can be disabled per resource, or two regenerable resource keys in the `api-key` header. No documented route puts the key in a URL query string (30). Prompts, completions, embeddings and training data aren't used to train foundation models without the customer's permission or instruction, per the data privacy page updated 4 August 2026 (20). Flagged prompts and completions may be stored in the customer's geography for human abuse review, with no retention period stated, and approved customers can turn that storage off through modified abuse monitoring. Responses API data is kept 30 days by default unless `store` is false (12 of 15). Azure Monitor resource logs and the subscription activity log, as read in the Foundry fine-tuning dossier (15). MSRC coordinated disclosure policy and Microsoft's bounty programme, both named in microsoft.com's security.txt, and Azure OpenAI is listed in FedRAMP High and DoD IL2 scope in Azure public regions. The security.txt passed its Expires date on 2026-09-23 and was still expired on 6 November, which the Bedrock and S3 dossiers mark down by 2, applied here too (18 of 20, down from 20 on 6 October for consistency).\n- Hugging Face Inference Providers (79): Model reading. Fine-grained user access tokens that can be limited to the `Make calls to Inference Providers` permission, rotated and revoked, plus a public revocation endpoint for leaked tokens, and organisation approval of fine-grained tokens on paid plans (30). Hugging Face says it doesn't store user data for training, but data handling past the router follows each provider's policy, with no per-request filter to exclude providers that train or retain (12 of 20). Request bodies and responses aren't stored when routed and debug logs are kept up to 30 days without user data or tokens, with provider retention outside that statement (10 of 15). Usage by model and provider in account settings, an Enterprise usage API, and Team and Enterprise admins can disable providers and set a spending limit (13 of 15). SOC 2 Type 2 for the Hub, of which the docs say Inference Providers is a feature, and security.txt valid to 2030 per the Inference Endpoints check; no bug bounty found (14 of 20).\n\n### Transparency \u0026 trust: Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models +12\n\n- Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models (83): Closed service under the Microsoft Product Terms, with the v1 spec under MIT and the OpenAI SDKs under Apache-2.0 (15). The data privacy page agrees with the product terms on no training and states where data is processed and stored by deployment type, but gives no retention period for the human-review store and sits beside a 30-day default for Responses data (24 of 30). A published lifecycle policy and a retirement schedule with dates and replacements, but on 6 November the schedule listed `gpt-realtime-mini` 2025-10-06 and 2025-12-15 twice each with different retirement dates, and no GPT-6 model yet (18 of 20, down from 20). Data locations stated for Standard, Data Zone and Global deployments, and a public sub-processor list per the 5 October Azure Speech check, not re-read (20).\n- Hugging Face Inference Providers (71): Closed service under Terms of Service that name Inference Providers, with an Apache-2.0 Python client and an MIT JavaScript client (20). The security page and the docs agree on no training, no stored bodies and 30-day logs, but the privacy policy dates from 28 March 2023 and each provider's own data policy governs the rest (18 of 30). No deprecation policy found. Provider support changes and the 7 October removal of free credits are dated only in the docs repository history (5 of 20). The privacy policy lists 11 subprocessors with countries per the Inference Endpoints check, and the docs name every provider a request can reach, though not where each runs (15 of 20).\n\n### Maintenance \u0026 community: Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models +6\n\n- 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\u0026A 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).\n- Hugging Face Inference Providers (80): Model reading. huggingface_hub 2.4.0 tagged on 29 October 2026 and the Inference Providers docs updated daily by an automated job, last on 6 November (30). huggingface_hub 2.2.0, 2.3.0 and 2.4.0 and @huggingface/inference 4.13.28 to 4.13.32 in the 90 days (20). No dedicated changelog; the Hub has a forum and Discord, and GitHub issue replies were not read (8 of 15). Current official SDKs in Python and JavaScript (15). The Python client supports Python 3.10 and later, per the Inference Endpoints check; CI not read (7 of 10).\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models | Hugging Face Inference Providers | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 80 | 25 | Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models +55 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 87 | 62 | Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models +25 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 98 | 58 | Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models +40 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 95 | 79 | Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models +16 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 20 | even |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 86 | 80 | Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models +6 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 83 | 71 | Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models +12 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **80 · A** | **54 · C** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models | Hugging Face Inference Providers |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | Model API | Model router |\n| Vendor | Microsoft | Hugging Face, Inc. |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://\u003cresource\u003e.openai.azure.com/openai/v1` | `https://router.huggingface.co/v1` |\n| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |\n| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |\n| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | Proprietary service under the Microsoft Product Terms. The v1 OpenAPI spec is MIT, and the OpenAI SDKs the docs use are Apache-2.0 | Proprietary service under the Hugging Face Terms of Service, which name Inference Providers. The `huggingface_hub` Python client is Apache-2.0 and `@huggingface/inference` is MIT |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | no | yes |\n| Last release | 2026-10-26 | 2026-10-29 |\n| Terms last updated | no date given | 2022-09-15 |\n| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-01 | 2023-03-28 |\n| Customer content may train models | yes | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Popularity | 454k npm/wk | 483k npm/wk, 71.5M PyPI/wk |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models.** An OpenAI-compatible v1 API with a public OpenAPI spec, Entra ID roles in place of shared keys and FedRAMP High scope, with GPT-6 and GPT-6.1 at OpenAI's list prices on Global Standard. Access needs an Azure subscription with a card and a deployment per model, and a 29 September 2026 incident caused about six hours of failures in Sweden Central.\n\n**Hugging Face Inference Providers.** One Hugging Face token reaches open models on 18 partner providers at the providers' own prices, with a public model list that shows each provider's price, context and tool support. Router rate limits, error responses and its own status component were not found in the reviewed documentation, and free accounts have had no included credits since 7 October 2026.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models\n\n1. Point the OpenAI SDK at https://\u003cresource\u003e.openai.azure.com/openai/v1/ and pass the deployment name as `model`, not the model id\n2. Prefer Entra ID with the Cognitive Services OpenAI User role over the resource key, which opens the whole data plane\n3. On 429 wait for `retry-after-ms`, then back off with jitter. The OpenAI SDK retries twice by default\n4. Set `store: false` on Responses calls you don't need kept. Stored responses persist 30 days by default\n5. Keep remote MCP approvals on for servers you don't control. They're required by default\n\n### Hugging Face Inference Providers\n\n1. Read https://router.huggingface.co/v1/models before choosing a provider; it shows price, context and `supports_tools` per provider\n2. Pin a provider with `model:\u003cprovider\u003e` when tool calling or structured output matters, since support varies by provider\n3. Use a fine-grained token with only the Inference Providers permission, and send `X-HF-Bill-To` to bill an organisation\n4. Back off on 429 without assuming a Retry-After header, since none is documented for the router\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models or Hugging Face Inference Providers?\n\nAzure OpenAI in Foundry Models scores 80 (A) on agent readiness against Hugging Face Inference Providers's 54 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.\n\n### Do Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models and Hugging Face Inference Providers need an API key?\n\nAzure OpenAI in Foundry Models takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Hugging Face Inference Providers needs an API key.\n\n### Can an agent call Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models and Hugging Face Inference Providers without installing anything?\n\nYes. Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models has a hosted endpoint at https://\u003cresource\u003e.openai.azure.com/openai/v1 and Hugging Face Inference Providers at https://router.huggingface.co/v1.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-openai-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-openai-vs-hugging-face-inference-providers.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"azure-openai\", \"b\": \"hugging-face-inference-providers\"}`. 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"https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-11-07", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.7", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "terms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models vs Hugging Face Inference Providers", "url": "" } ], "description": "Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models scores 80 (A) to Hugging Face Inference Providers's 54 (C) for llm inference. 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