{"id":2149,"date":"2026-04-15T05:00:56","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T05:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/all-things-azure\/?p=2149"},"modified":"2026-04-15T15:51:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T15:51:08","slug":"hostedagent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/all-things-azure\/hostedagent\/","title":{"rendered":"Choosing the Right Azure Hosting Model for AI Agents: A Deep Dive into Foundry Hosted Agents"},"content":{"rendered":"
AI agents are quickly moving from experiments to production\u2011critical components of modern applications. But while many teams know how<\/em> to build agents, far fewer are confident they\u2019re hosting them on the right foundation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Most organizations start by deploying agents the same way they deploy microservices\u2014containers, functions, or app services. That approach works initially. But as agents evolve to support long\u2011running conversations, tool orchestration, stateful workflows, and continuous iteration, infrastructure decisions start to matter in new ways.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Azure offers multiple ways to host AI agents, each with different tradeoffs across control, operational overhead, scalability, and agent\u2011native capabilities<\/strong>. Choosing the right option isn\u2019t about finding a single \u201cbest\u201d service\u2014it\u2019s about matching your agent\u2019s requirements to the right hosting model.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
In this post, we\u2019ll walk through the Azure agent hosting landscape\u2014from serverless and container\u2011based options to fully managed agent platforms\u2014and then take a deeper look at Microsoft Foundry Hosted Agents<\/strong>, a purpose\u2011built hosting model designed specifically for agentic workloads. Along the way, we\u2019ll highlight when each option makes sense and how to choose the one that best aligns with your architecture, team, and scale.<\/div>\n

The Azure Agent Hosting Landscape<\/h2>\n

When deploying AI agents to production, you have several Azure options to consider like Azure Container Apps, Azure Kubernetes Service, Azure App Service, Azure Functions, Microsoft Foundry Agents and Microsoft Foundry Hosted Agents. Let\u2019s examine each option before diving deep into Hosted Agents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Hosting Option<\/th>\nControl<\/th>\nComplexity<\/th>\nBest For<\/th>\nStrengths<\/th>\nConsiderations<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Azure Container Apps<\/strong><\/td>\nHigh<\/td>\nMedium<\/td>\nGeneral containerized workloads, custom orchestration, full control over your container runtime while avoiding Kubernetes complexity.<\/td>\nContainer control, KEDA autoscaling, VNet\/Dapr<\/td>\nManual observability, self-managed conversation state<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Azure Kubernetes Service<\/strong><\/td>\nVery High<\/td>\nHigh<\/td>\nEnterprise-scale, strict compliance,multi-cluster deployment, or complex networking<\/td>\nMax flexibility, multi-cluster, GitOps<\/td>\nHigh operational overhead, K8s expertise required<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Azure App Service<\/strong><\/td>\nMedium<\/td>\nLow<\/td>\nSimple web-based agents, PaaS deployment model with no container orchestration<\/td>\nManaged PaaS, CI\/CD slots, Entra Auth<\/td>\nInstance-based scaling, no agent abstractions<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Azure Functions<\/strong><\/td>\nLow<\/td>\nLow<\/td>\nEvent-driven agents, serverless triggers,<\/td>\nPay-per-execution, rich built-in triggers<\/td>\nExecution time limits, cold starts<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Microsoft Foundry Agents<\/strong><\/td>\nLow<\/td>\nVery Low<\/td>\nPrompt-based agents, built-in tools, managed, code-optional agent configured through the portal or SDK\u2014no containers, no infrastructure.<\/td>\nZero infra, built-in tools, portal-driven<\/td>\nNo custom framework, limited to model + tools<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Microsoft Foundry Hosted Agents<\/strong><\/td>\nMedium<\/td>\nVery Low<\/td>\nCustom frameworks, agent-native deployment, simplicity of managed infrastructure with the flexibility of custom agent code,<\/td>\nBYO framework, built-in OTel, scale-to-zero<\/td>\nPreview SLAs, no private networking yet<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

Deep Dive: Microsoft Foundry Hosted Agents<\/h2>\n

For teams that want the simplicity of managed infrastructure with the flexibility of custom agent code, Hosted Agents<\/strong> in Microsoft Foundry represent the sweet spot. This is where Azure meets agent-native deployment.<\/p>\n

What Are Hosted Agents?<\/h3>\n

Hosted Agents are containerized agentic AI applications that run on Foundry Agent Service<\/strong>\u2014Microsoft\u2019s managed platform for AI agents. Unlike traditional container hosting, Hosted Agents provide:<\/p>\n