Migration Guides

Migrate from Azure OpenAI to Railwail

Switch from Azure OpenAI Service to Railwail. Drop deployment names, just use model IDs. Same GPT-4o and embeddings, 200+ models on one key.

Railwail2 min read

Created with AI assistance.

Migrate from Azure OpenAI to Railwail
01 ยท Key takeaways

TL;DR โ€” Switch in Under 10 Minutes

  • No Azure subscription, no resource creation, no deployment names โ€” just API keys
  • Replace /openai/deployments/{deployment}/chat/completions with /api/v1/chat/completions
  • Use model IDs (gpt-4o) instead of deployment names (my-gpt4o-deployment)
  • Drop api-version query param
  • Plus non-OpenAI models on the same key

Try it on Railwail

Run GPT-4o

OpenAI$3.00/1M inBilled by actual usage

OpenAI's most capable multimodal model. Excellent for complex reasoning, coding, and creative tasks.

02

Why Move Off Azure OpenAI?

Azure OpenAI is the enterprise-grade way to use GPT-4o with Microsoft compliance guarantees. The friction: each model requires a separate Azure deployment (with quotas to request), API versions to track, endpoint URLs that bake in your resource name, and a Microsoft-flavoured SDK path. If your team does not need the full Azure stack (Entra ID integration, VNet, Private Link), Railwail offers a simpler unified API.

03

Step 1 โ€” Get a Railwail API Key

Sign up at railwail.com and generate a key.

04

Step 2 โ€” Switch from Deployment Names to Model IDs

Azure forces you to create a 'deployment' for each model variant and refer to it by your chosen deployment name. Railwail uses standard OpenAI model IDs โ€” no deployments to provision.

Before (Azure OpenAI):

import { AzureOpenAI } from "openai";

const azure = new AzureOpenAI({
  apiKey: process.env.AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY,
  endpoint: "https://my-resource.openai.azure.com",
  apiVersion: "2025-01-01",
  deployment: "my-gpt4o-deployment",
});

const res = await azure.chat.completions.create({
  model: "my-gpt4o-deployment",  // Same as deployment name
  messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Hello" }],
});

After (Railwail):

import OpenAI from "openai";

const client = new OpenAI({
  apiKey: process.env.RAILWAIL_API_KEY,
  baseURL: "https://railwail.com/api/v1",
});

const res = await client.chat.completions.create({
  model: "gpt-4o",  // Real model ID, no deployment name
  messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Hello" }],
});
05

API Endpoint Mapping

Azure OpenAI endpoint โ†’ Railwail equivalent
Azure OpenAIRailwailNotes
POST /openai/deployments/{d}/chat/completionsPOST /api/v1/chat/completionsmodel in body, not URL
POST /openai/deployments/{d}/embeddingsPOST /api/v1/embeddingsmodel in body
POST /openai/deployments/{d}/images/generationsPOST /api/v1/images/generationsโ€”
POST /openai/deployments/{d}/audio/speechPOST /api/v1/audio/speechTTS
POST /openai/deployments/{d}/audio/transcriptionsPOST /api/v1/audio/transcriptionsWhisper
GET /openai/models?api-version=...GET /api/v1/modelsAll models, no api-version
POST /openai/deployments/{d}/extensions/chat/completionsPOST /api/v1/chat/completionsUse standard tools array
06

Model Mapping

Replace whatever Azure deployment name you used with the canonical OpenAI model ID.

Azure deployment (or upstream model) โ†’ Railwail
Azure model variantLive on RailwailRailwailNotes
gpt-4o (Standard)$3.00/1M ingpt-4ogpt-4oSame model
gpt-4o (Global Standard)$3.00/1M ingpt-4ogpt-4oSame
gpt-4o-mini$0.18/1M ingpt-4o-minigpt-4o-miniSame
gpt-4-turbo$2.40/1M ingpt-4-1gpt-4-1Successor
o1-preview / o1-mini$2.40/1M inopenai-o3openai-o3 / openai-o4-miniSuccessor
text-embedding-3-small / large$0.024/1M intext-embedding-3-smalltext-embedding-3-small / largeSame
whisperโ‰ˆ $0.0034/runwhisper-replicatewhisper-replicateWhisper on Replicate
tts-1, tts-1-hd$0.018/1k charsopenai-tts-1openai-tts-1, openai-tts-1-hdSame
07

Why Railwail Over Azure OpenAI

  • No Azure subscription, no resource provisioning
  • No deployment names โ€” just model IDs
  • No api-version query string to track
  • Single OpenAI-style SDK across all models
  • Plus access to Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek โ€” Azure OpenAI is OpenAI-only
08

FAQ

Do I lose Azure's data zone / EU residency guarantees?

Railwail does not offer EU data residency; the models run at the providers, mostly in the US.

What about Entra ID / managed identity authentication?

Railwail uses API keys with optional IP allowlisting.

Can I use Azure-on-your-data (AOAI extensions / RAG with Azure Search)?

Azure-on-your-data is an Azure-proprietary extension. Railwail supports stateless retrieval โ€” pass your retrieved documents in the system or user message yourself. This is more portable and works with any vector store (pgvector, Pinecone, Qdrant).

Are content filters configurable?

Railwail does not apply mandatory pre-filtering.

Are Azure Cognitive Services / Speech / Vision migrated too?

Azure Cognitive Services (Speech-to-Text, Translator, Document Intelligence) are not part of Azure OpenAI โ€” those are separate Azure products. Railwail offers Whisper STT, OpenAI TTS, and document OCR equivalents.

09

Next Steps

  • Sign up at railwail.com
  • Generate an API key
  • Replace AzureOpenAI client with OpenAI client (still openai package)
  • Replace deployment names with model IDs (my-gpt4o-deployment โ†’ gpt-4o)
  • Drop apiVersion and endpoint params
  • Read the reference at railwail.com/docs
  • Compare pricing at railwail.com/pricing
  • View provider catalog at railwail.com/providers
Live

Models in this article

Live prices from Railwail's current rules, October 7, 2026.

  • GPT-4oOpenAI
    $3.00 / 1M input tokens$12.00/1M out
    1K in + 500 out tokens: โ‰ˆ $0.0090
    Try
  • WhisperOpenAI
    โ‰ˆ $0.0034 per run
    Try
  • $0.18 / 1M input tokens$0.72/1M out
    1K in + 500 out tokens: โ‰ˆ $0.00060
    Try
  • $0.024 / 1M input tokens
    1K in + 500 out tokens: โ‰ˆ $0.00010
    Try
  • GPT-4.1OpenAI
    $2.40 / 1M input tokens$9.60/1M out
    1K in + 500 out tokens: โ‰ˆ $0.0072
    Try
  • OpenAI o3OpenAI
    $2.40 / 1M input tokens$9.60/1M out
    1K in + 500 out tokens: โ‰ˆ $0.0072
    Try

โ‰ˆ billed by actual tokens or GPU time

Next step

Try GPT-4o on Railwail

Sign in with Google for 10 free credits (usable 24 hours after sign-up, runs up to 2 credits), or top up from $5.00. Unused balance does not expire.

TopicsAzure OpenAIMigrationGPT-4oAzure AIEnterprise