Azure
Why Your Azure OpenAI Bill Surprised You: Tokens, Provisioned Throughput and Pay-As-You-Go
Azure OpenAI in Microsoft Foundry Models has three billing shapes: pay per token, reserve capacity in provisioned throughput units, or accept a 24-hour target turnaround for half price with Batch. This guide explains where tokens come from in an agent turn, how PTU sizing and reservations work, when spillover helps, and how to monitor spend, with every claim checked against Microsoft's documentation in September 2026.
10 min read