Azure models beyond OpenAI
Beyond Azure OpenAI (GPT, o-series, embeddings, etc.), Microsoft Foundry and your Azure AI Services account can give you access to models from other providers. Availability depends on region and how the resource is set up.
Reference: Foundry models sold directly by Azure (switch to “Other model collections” for non-OpenAI).
Other providers (via Azure)
| Provider | Example models | Use case |
|---|---|---|
| DeepSeek | DeepSeek-V3-0324, DeepSeek-V3.1, DeepSeek-V3.2, DeepSeek-R1, DeepSeek-R1-0528 | Chat, reasoning, coding. Deploy on brainforge-openai-eastus2 (East US was legacy; migrate any old deployments). |
| Cohere | Cohere-command-a, embed-v-4-0, Cohere-rerank-v4.0-pro, Cohere-rerank-v4.0-fast | Chat, embeddings, rerank. |
| Meta | Llama-4-Maverick-17B-128E-Instruct-FP8, Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct | Open-weight LLMs. |
| Mistral | mistral-document-ai-2505, Mistral-Large-3 | Chat, document AI. |
| xAI | grok-3, grok-3-mini, grok-4, grok-4-fast-reasoning, grok-4-fast-non-reasoning, grok-code-fast-1 | Chat, reasoning, code. |
| Microsoft | MAI-DS-R1, model-router | Microsoft models, routing. |
| Moonshot AI | Kimi-K2-Thinking, Kimi-K2.5 | Reasoning, long context. |
| Black Forest Labs | FLUX.2-pro, FLUX.1-Kontext-pro, FLUX-1.1-pro | Image generation. |
What you already have (brainforge-openai-eastus2)
Policy: New deployments only on East US 2. brainforge-openai (East US) is legacy/deprecating.
From az cognitiveservices account deployment list -g brainforge -n brainforge-openai-eastus2, typical deployments include OpenAI chat, embeddings, and (when deployed) third-party models on the same resource. See azure-openai-deployment-options.md and azure-models-for-devs.md.
How to use non-OpenAI models
- Same resource (brainforge-openai-eastus2): Non-OpenAI deployments (e.g. DeepSeek) use the same Azure OpenAI–compatible endpoint and key as GPT deployments; the deployment name selects the model. Call via
deployments/{deployment-name}/...on the East US 2 base URL. - New resource: For providers that are only in Foundry (e.g. some Cohere, Mistral, xAI), you may need a Foundry project or a different resource type; see Foundry models and the AI Model Catalog.
- Region: Deploy on East US 2 only for new work; check each model’s region table in Azure docs.
Kimi (Moonshot) K2-Thinking & K2.5 – optional for devs
The platform default is the best OpenAI model we have (azureModel_default, upgradeable via AZURE_DEFAULT_CHAT_*). Kimi is opt-in only: agents use it only when you explicitly set model: azureModel_kimi_k2_thinking or azureModel_kimi_k2_5.
After deploying Kimi-K2-Thinking and/or Kimi-K2.5 in Azure (same resource or Foundry), set in .env:
AZURE_KIMI_K2_THINKING_BASE_URL(optional; defaults to Azure default chat / o4-mini / gpt-4o base URL – never non-AzureOPENAI_BASE_URL)AZURE_KIMI_K2_THINKING_DEPLOYMENT(default:Kimi-K2-Thinking)AZURE_KIMI_K2_5_BASE_URL(optional; same Azure-only fallback)AZURE_KIMI_K2_5_DEPLOYMENT(default:Kimi-K2.5)
In code, use the exported models so agents can opt in:
import { azureModel_kimi_k2_thinking, azureModel_kimi_k2_5 } from "@/mastra/azure";
// Use K2-Thinking for an agent
model: azureModel_kimi_k2_thinking
// Or K2.5
model: azureModel_kimi_k2_5If Kimi env is not set, these exports fall back to o4-mini so the app keeps running without a Kimi deployment.
Quick reference
- Azure OpenAI only: Azure OpenAI models.
- All Foundry models (OpenAI + others): Models sold directly by Azure.
- Catalog / deploy: AI Model Catalog.