Microsoft Foundry
Microsoft Foundry, formerly Azure AI Studio and Azure AI Foundry, is Microsoft’s Azure platform for building, grounding and governing AI apps and agents.
About this tool
Microsoft Foundry is Azure’s platform for developing AI applications and agents. Microsoft describes it as the successor to Azure AI Studio, and its product URL still uses the Azure AI Foundry name. It brings the full agent lifecycle into one portal: choosing and customising models, building and hosting agents, connecting them to business systems, and governing them with security and compliance controls.
Developers get a large catalogue of models, including experimental and open-source ones, with real-time model routing to balance performance and cost. Agents can be grounded in organisational knowledge, act on business systems through tools, and be monitored and evaluated continuously. A unified control plane applies policy across agents, tools and knowledge sources, and agents can roll out to Microsoft 365 apps.
What you can do
Model catalogue and routing
Choose from a wide range of models and route each request in real time to optimise cost and quality.
Agent building and hosting
Build agents with your preferred frameworks and host them with serverless scaling.
Grounding and tools
Connect agents to organisational data and business systems so they can answer and act.
Governance and security
A control plane, enterprise identity and Defender protection help govern every agent.
Who is it for?
- An enterprise builds an internal agent grounded in SharePoint and line-of-business data.
- A development team compares several models and routes traffic to the cheapest one that meets quality targets.
- An IT department monitors and governs all agents deployed across the organisation.
Before you choose
The platform has been renamed several times, so tutorials may refer to Azure AI Studio or Azure AI Foundry; check you are following current documentation.
Costs combine model usage, compute and related Azure services; use the Azure pricing calculator to estimate them.
Frequently asked questions
Is Microsoft Foundry the same as Azure AI Foundry?
Yes. Microsoft now uses the name Microsoft Foundry, describes it as formerly Azure AI Studio, and still serves it from the Azure AI Foundry product URL.
Can I use non-Microsoft models in Foundry?
Yes. Foundry offers a broad model catalogue, including open-source and experimental models, alongside models from Microsoft and its partners.
Who is Microsoft Foundry for?
It targets developers building AI apps and agents and organisations that need central security, compliance and governance across them.
Check the official website for current features, pricing, and terms.
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