Foundry OpenAI Tier 1 Quota Upgrade Not Applied — Automatic Upgrade Not Reflecting in Subscription

NabhaSens-7328 0 Reputation points
2026-08-29T09:52:24.1966667+00:00

Problem description

I received an eligibility notification indicating that my Azure AI Foundry subscription would be automatically upgraded from Free Tier to Tier 1 after a three-day opt-out window. I did not opt out, yet my subscription remains on Free Tier, and the Tier 1 quota has not been applied. Despite multiple manual quota increase requests, all were denied, limiting my ability to proceed with my project. I am seeking clarification and assistance in ensuring my subscription is upgraded as eligible.

Environment

Service: Microsoft Foundry; Resource type: Azure AI Foundry (formerly Azure OpenAI); Region: not specified in the case information.

What I've already tried

I have reviewed the automatic upgrade eligibility email, submitted multiple quota increase requests which were denied, and verified the quota tier using the Azure Management API. I also checked the 'Usage + quotas' page, which still shows the Free Tier. I confirmed that there is no self-service option to manually change the tier and that no support diagnostics or portal-side quota checks have been performed to date.

Current status

Currently, my subscription remains on the Free Tier despite eligibility for Tier 1. The automatic upgrade process did not complete, and manual requests have been denied. I am seeking assistance to confirm my upgrade eligibility, understand why the upgrade has not occurred, and explore options for manual or supported tier upgrade.

Foundry Models
Foundry Models

A catalog of AI models in Microsoft Foundry that you can discover, compare, and deploy using Azure’s built‑in tools for evaluation, fine‑tuning, and inference

1 answer

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  1. Manish Deshpande 8,135 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-08-30T20:44:54.56+00:00

    Hello @NabhaSens-7328

    Thanks for running the command and posting the full response. That output actually answers the configuration half of the question, so let me start there rather than asking you to re-run anything.

    What your output confirms

    "assignmentDate": "2026-08-14T09:09:09.5064636Z",
"currentTierName": "Free Tier",
"tierUpgradePolicy": "OnceUpgradeIsAvailable"

    tierUpgradePolicy is OnceUpgradeIsAvailable, not NoAutoUpgrade — so you are correctly enrolled for automatic upgrades and nothing on your side needs changing. The opt-out you didn't take was registered correctly. That rules out the most common cause of "I never moved tiers."

    Why the tier hasn't moved after 13 days

    The eligibility notification isn't a scheduled job with a fixed date. Per the documentation, automatic tier movement is evaluated against three inputs:

    • your consumption trend across Foundry Models over time — the system upgrades you when your current tier is actually limiting your usage;
    • your relationship with Microsoft — Enterprise Agreement (EA) and MCA-E subscriptions are assigned higher tiers;
    • your payment history.

    That creates a circular situation for you specifically:
    Free Tier gives you no headroom to generate the consumption that triggers the upgrade. The same logic explains your denials — quota increase requests are processed in order received, and priority goes to customers actively using their existing quota allocation; requests that don't meet that condition might be denied. On Free Tier with no usage to show, a denial is the expected outcome, not a defect.

    What I'd do next, in order

    1. Use the quota increase form, not the portal's Request quota flow. Submit at https://aka.ms/oai/stuquotarequest. If approved, your tier stays the same but additional quota is assigned to it — that's the supported path to unblock a project without waiting on an automatic tier move. Include your target model, version, deployment type, region, and a short description of the workload you're blocked on.
    2. Check whether your subscription's offer type is the real cap. If this is a free trial, Azure Pass, student, or sandbox subscription, the offer type can hold you below the tier table regardless of which tier you're assigned — in which case no tier upgrade will fix it, and converting the subscription to pay-as-you-go is the actual remedy. Can you confirm the offer type on this subscription?
    3. Verify your quota view at subscription scope. Since May 7, 2026, quota is tracked at the subscription level rather than per resource/region — Global Standard shares one pool per model+version across all regions, Data Zone Standard one pool per data zone. If you were checking a per-resource view, you may be looking at the wrong number. Check the Foundry portal quota page: https://ai.azure.com/resource/quota

    To confirm what Tier 1 would actually give you, tell me your target model and deployment type and I'll quote the exact entitlement. For example, Tier 1 GlobalStandard is 1,000 RPM / 1,000,000 TPM for gpt-5.5, gpt-5.6-sol, gpt-5.6-luna and gpt-5.6-terra, and 10,000 RPM / 1,000,000 TPM for gpt-5, gpt-5.1, gpt-5.2 and gpt-5.4; DataZoneStandard is 333 RPM / 333,000 TPM for the 5.5/5.6 family and 3,000 RPM / 300,000 TPM for gpt-5/gpt-5.1/gpt-5.2.

    One thing I want to be straight about: I can't give you a committed date for the automatic upgrade, because the trigger is usage-based rather than time-based. Route 1 above is the path that doesn't depend on it.

    References

    Thanks,
    Manish.

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