provider:azure-ionq-forte

Azure Quantum — IonQ Forte (PAYG)

IonQ Forte 1 / Forte Enterprise 1 (36-qubit trapped-ion) · trapped-ion · 36 physical qubits · 99.60% 2Q fidelity

verified primary

Pricing model

Per-program AQT formula. $168.20 minimum per execution mitigation-on; $25.79 mitigation-off.

1.Representative workload costs

Concrete circuit costs for common workload sizes. Where the pricing model is non-linear (per-program minimums, per-month subscriptions), the table surfaces the floor and break-even points.

Table 1 — Workload cost reference

Workload	Cost (USD)	Note
Single mitigation-on program	$168.20	Floor cost for Forte access on Azure.
Single mitigation-off program	$25.79	Where the algorithm doesn't need mitigation, 7x reduction.
10-program study × 1k shots each (mitigation on)	$1,682+	Mitigation-on minimums compound; budget for the floor times program count.

2.Structural hardware advantage

IonQ Forte (36-qubit, 99.6% 2Q) via Azure's program-level pricing model. The difference vs Braket is whether the workload structure rewards per-shot or per-program billing — Azure pays off for fewer, larger programs.

3.Position in the 2026 stack

Production. Same hardware as Braket Forte but different access channel.

4.Best-fit workloads

Azure-native ML pipelines with quantum-acceleration stages
Workloads structured as small number of long programs
Customers committed to Microsoft's QDK / Q# tooling

5.Pricing trap

Watch for: Minimums are roughly 2x Aria — verify whether 36 qubits is required before paying the Forte premium. Many pilot workloads fit in 25 qubits, in which case Aria is cheaper.

Verification note. Minimum per execution: $168.20 with mitigation on (default), $25.79 with mitigation off.

6.Source

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/quantum/pricing · verified 2026-06-03