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TrueFoundry supports both Azure OpenAI and Azure AI Foundry resource types for integrating Azure-hosted models with the AI Gateway. This guide explains the differences and helps you pick the right one.

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Azure OpenAI

A specialized Azure resource type that provides access to OpenAI models only (GPT-5.2, GPT-4.1, o3, o4-mini, etc.) through Azure’s infrastructure. It is a managed service focused on providing a secure, enterprise-grade wrapper around OpenAI’s APIs.
  • Access limited to OpenAI models (GPT-5 series, GPT-4.1 series, o-series reasoning models, embeddings, image generation, etc.)
  • Uses Azure deployment names to identify models
  • Supports pay-per-token and provisioned throughput pricing
  • Best suited when you only need OpenAI models

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Azure AI Foundry

A broader Azure resource type that includes everything Azure OpenAI offers, plus access to models from other providers like Anthropic (Claude), Mistral, Meta (Llama), Cohere, and more. It is the default resource type for new projects in Microsoft’s Foundry portal.
  • Access to all models including OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, Meta, Cohere, etc.
  • Additional platform capabilities like agent orchestration, evaluations, and multi-model routing
  • Recommended by Microsoft for new deployments
Azure AI Foundry is a superset of Azure OpenAI. You’re not choosing one instead of the other. Foundry includes all Azure OpenAI capabilities plus additional models and platform features.

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Comparison

Azure AI FoundryAzure OpenAI
OpenAI models (GPT-5.2, GPT-4.1, o3, etc.)✓✓
Anthropic models (Claude)✓✗
Mistral, Meta, Cohere, and others✓✗
Azure OpenAI API compatibility✓✓
Agent orchestration and evaluations✓✗
Recommended for new setups✓
For a detailed comparison from Microsoft, see Choose an Azure resource type for AI Foundry.

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Endpoint Formats

Azure AI Foundry uses a unified endpoint format (referred to as the Microsoft Foundry format) for most models: 
https://<resource-name>.services.ai.azure.com/models/chat/completions?api-version=<version>
Anthropic models on Azure AI Foundry use a separate endpoint path: 
https://<resource-name>.services.ai.azure.com/anthropic/v1/messages
Azure AI Foundry also supports an Azure OpenAI-compatible endpoint format (<resource-name>.cognitiveservices.azure.com/openai/...), but TrueFoundry uses the Foundry format shown above. You may see the OpenAI-compatible URL in the Azure portal for OpenAI model deployments. This is expected, both formats work, but you should use the Foundry format endpoint when configuring models in TrueFoundry.
When configuring models in TrueFoundry, you provide the endpoint URL from your Azure AI Foundry deployment.

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What About Azure Hub?

Azure Hub is a management layer on top of Azure AI Foundry or Azure OpenAI that provides additional capabilities for organizing projects, governance, and team collaboration. When creating a Hub, you select an underlying AI Foundry or Azure OpenAI resource. Since mid 2025, Microsoft has been moving most Hub capabilities directly into the Foundry resource type, bringing agents, models, and tools together under a single resource. For TrueFoundry integration, the relevant resource is the underlying Azure AI Foundry (or Azure OpenAI) resource itself. The Hub layer doesn’t affect how you configure models in the AI Gateway.

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Which Should I Use?

Starting fresh: Use Azure AI Foundry. It gives you the broadest model access with full backward compatibility with Azure OpenAI APIs. Set up your resource in the Azure AI Foundry portal. Already using Azure OpenAI: Your existing setup continues to work with TrueFoundry. If you want access to non-OpenAI models or newer Foundry capabilities, Microsoft provides an upgrade path that preserves your existing API endpoints, deployments, and security configuration. See Upgrade Azure OpenAI to Foundry. Only need OpenAI models: If you only need OpenAI models and already have an Azure OpenAI resource, there’s no need to migrate. Both resource types are fully supported in TrueFoundry.

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Further Reading

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Next Steps