Azure & Cloud
August 3, 2026Azure OpenAI cost check: GPT-5.6 price cuts and PTU math
OpenAI cut GPT-5.6 Luna prices by 80 percent and Terra by 20 percent on 30 July 2026, and Microsoft confirmed the same decreases reach Azure OpenAI Global Standard deployments from 1 August. For Swedish and EU teams running these models on Azure, the cuts move the break-even point for PTU reservations, model routing and residency premiums, so the autumn budget math deserves a fresh pass before any new one-year commitments.
Azure OpenAI
GPT-5.6
Microsoft Foundry
PTU
Provisioned Throughput
Cost Optimization
Pricing
Data Zones
EU Data Residency
By Falak Mahmood
AI & Cloud Infrastructure
April 2, 2026Cost-Optimizing Azure OpenAI: PTUs, Batch, Caching in 2026
A concrete playbook for reducing Azure OpenAI bills in 2026. Break-even math for Provisioned Throughput Units, prompt-cache economics, the Batch API 50 percent discount, Foundry IQ for retrieval, tiered model routing, and the telemetry that keeps the wins honest.
Azure OpenAI
Cost Optimization
PTU
Foundry IQ
LLM
By Falak Mahmood