Iron A broad Microsoft agent platform with fleet control.
Foundry is strong for Azure and Microsoft 365 teams that need a managed agent service, flexible frameworks, MCP and A2A tools, isolated sessions, and centralized fleet governance.
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Put accountable agent operations above the cloud stack.
Microsoft Foundry combines models, tools, hosted agents, monitoring, and an enterprise control plane. Iron Gorilla adds a focused operating model for business policy, behavioral trust, contextual approvals, containment, recovery, and fixed evidence.
Make trust and recovery part of every run.
Microsoft Foundry provides a broad development and hosting platform. Iron Gorilla focuses on durable business execution, earned behavioral trust, action-level policy, approval, containment, recovery, and portable audit evidence.
Feature comparison
Compare platform breadth with accountable operations.
Iron Gorilla covers 38 of 42 capabilities. Microsoft Foundry Agent Service covers 25. Iron Gorilla includes 17 capabilities Microsoft Foundry Agent Service does not.
Managed agent runtimeBuild, run, supervise, and improve agents in one platform.12 features
Fully managed production agent runtimeDeploy, execute, scale, and operate production agents as one accountable service.
Guided Agent BuilderCreate reviewed, versioned agents without assembling the runtime by hand.
Durable execution across interruptionPreserve state and continue long-running work after workers, networks, or providers fail.
Managed long-term agent memoryKeep governed context across sessions and long-running goals.
Long-running goal managementTrack plans, dependencies, state, and outcomes across many steps or sessions.
Managed multi-agent orchestrationCoordinate specialized agents, dependencies, handoffs, and shared work.
Contextual human approval gatesPause higher-risk work for a named person before execution continues.
Checkpoint resume and operator replayRestart work from a known good state after review or failure.
Business-action compensationReverse or compensate for a completed business action during recovery.
Scheduled and event-triggered agentsStart governed work from schedules, APIs, events, or enterprise systems.
Runtime observability and tracesInspect agent steps, tools, models, latency, failures, and outcomes.
Per-session VM-isolated hosted agentsRun custom agent containers with session isolation, persistent files, and scale-to-zero.
Policy and evidenceControl actions before they happen and keep proof of each decision.10 features
Pre-action business policy enforcementEvaluate business rules before tools change enterprise systems.
Policy simulation before activationTest expected decisions against sample actions before enforcement.
Prompt, output, and sensitive-data controlsInspect model traffic and prevent unsafe content or sensitive-data exposure.
Tool permissions and action allowlistsRestrict which tools and actions each agent may use.
Behavioral Trust ProfilesScore each agent from observed behavior and surface drift to operators.
Adaptive autonomy from earned trustTighten or relax oversight as observed behavior changes.
Live agent and connection containmentIsolate risky agents, connections, or work before impact spreads.
Guided operational recoveryDiagnose failure and recover affected work through an accountable operator flow.
Tamper-evident action audit trailPreserve policy, approvals, calls, actions, and outcomes as trustworthy evidence.
Scheduled fixed reports and portable exportsGive leaders and auditors repeatable reports in stable formats.
Connections and modelsControl MCP tools, model traffic, routing, cost, and integrations.9 features
MCP tools and connectionsConnect agents to MCP servers and governed enterprise actions.
MCP ownership, health, and lifecycleOperate connections with owners, credentials, health, risk, assignments, and history.
Enterprise application integrationsConnect agents to existing systems without rebuilding every interface.
APIs and developer interfacesEmbed agents and platform functions into existing products and workflows.
Multiple model providersUse approved models across providers without rebuilding agent workflows.
Policy-aware model routingSelect models by capability, cost, latency, risk, and policy.
Automatic model-provider fallbackContinue work on an approved backup when a provider fails.
Spend attribution, budgets, and cost routingTrack model cost by agent and constrain or reroute work before spend runs away.
Per-agent tool and model assignmentGive each agent only the tools, data, and model routes it needs.
Enterprise and governmentProtect identity and data across private and public-sector work.11 features
Managed SaaS deliveryUse the platform as a supported enterprise cloud service.
Customer-controlled on-premises deploymentOperate the platform inside infrastructure controlled by the buyer.
Air-gapped deployment patternOperate inside disconnected environments with controlled data and model access.
Enterprise identity and scoped accessApply organization, role, group, environment, and ownership boundaries.
Published plan structureShow buyers public plan options and included capabilities.
Dedicated government and defense solutionAddress mission, procurement, deployment, approval, and evidence needs directly.
Regulatory and assurance mappingsMap controls and evidence to regulated or public-sector assurance needs.
Formal implementation partner ecosystemUse consulting, technology, and delivery partners for adoption.
Independent SOC 2 Type II assuranceProvide independent assurance that service controls operated effectively over time.
Cross-cloud agent fleet registrationInventory agents, models, and tools from other clouds in one control plane.
Native Microsoft 365 publishingPublish agents into Microsoft 365, Teams, and related employee channels.
The short answer
Microsoft Foundry Agent Service or accountable agent operations?
Use Microsoft Foundry when teams need Azure-hosted agents, broad model and framework choice, Microsoft identity, MCP and A2A tools, Microsoft 365 publishing, and centralized fleet administration.
Choose Iron Gorilla when business owners need durable work, behavioral trust, contextual approvals, connection health, compensation, containment, recovery, and fixed evidence without making Azure the operating model.
Switch with less risk
Already under contract with Microsoft Foundry Agent Service?
Your organization may qualify for a contract buyout and complimentary professional services when it moves production agent operations from Microsoft Foundry Agent Service to Iron Gorilla.
Check eligibilityFAQ
Microsoft Foundry Agent Service alternative questions
Is Iron Gorilla an alternative to Microsoft Foundry Agent Service?
Yes. Both platforms support production AI work. Microsoft Foundry Agent Service does run production agents through prompt-based and hosted-agent services, while leaving business-specific trust, compensation, containment, and evidence design to the customer. Iron Gorilla adds a managed operating model centered on durable execution, behavioral trust, action control, containment, and recovery.
What is the main difference between Microsoft Foundry Agent Service and Iron Gorilla?
Microsoft Foundry provides a broad development and hosting platform. Iron Gorilla focuses on durable business execution, earned behavioral trust, action-level policy, approval, containment, recovery, and portable audit evidence.
Does Microsoft Foundry Agent Service run production agents?
does run production agents through prompt-based and hosted-agent services, while leaving business-specific trust, compensation, containment, and evidence design to the customer.
Where is Microsoft Foundry Agent Service stronger?
Microsoft Foundry is stronger for Azure integration, custom hosted agent containers, Microsoft 365 publishing, cross-cloud fleet registration, Microsoft identity, and its model and developer ecosystem.
When should a team choose Iron Gorilla over Microsoft Foundry Agent Service?
Choose Iron Gorilla when business owners need durable work, behavioral trust, contextual approvals, connection health, compensation, containment, recovery, and fixed evidence without making Azure the operating model.
Can Iron Gorilla buy out a Microsoft Foundry Agent Service contract?
Your organization may be eligible for a contract buyout and complimentary professional services. Eligibility and scope depend on your current contract and migration needs.
See the full agent lifecycle.
Build an agent. Set its limits. Run it with trust, approval, and audit controls.
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