NVIDIA provides a comprehensive platform of open software frameworks, libraries, and microservices designed to accelerate AI development and production workloads. This overview outlines the key components of our licensing model to help you navigate our software offerings, support policies, and legal agreements.
NVIDIA offers three primary types of software based on use case and support requirements:
Open Source Software (Free): Much of NVIDIA's software is open source. These products are licensed under standard OSI-approved licenses such as Apache 2.0, BSD, or MIT. Examples include NVIDIA Triton, NVIDIA Dynamo, NVIDIA NeMo, NVIDIA OpenShell and NVIDIA RAPIDS, which are available for download on GitHub and other public open-source repositories.
Community Products (Free): These include free SDKs and libraries packaged as microservices in containers and made available in the general NGC catalog. Examples include NVIDIA Triton containers, NVIDIA NeMo containers, and NVIDIA Omniverse. They can be used for both development and production and receive community-level support (e.g., via forums).
Enterprise Products (Paid): These are paid software subscriptions, such as NVIDIA AI Enterprise and NVIDIA Mission Control. Enterprise Products include enterprise support.
The NVIDIA Software License Agreement serves as the main agreement for Community Products and Enterprise Products. It establishes the general terms of use, including:
License Grant: Permission to install, use, and redistribute the software according to your order parameters.
Ownership and IP: NVIDIA retains all rights to the software; users receive usage permissions only.
Key Restrictions: Users may not reverse engineer, decompile, or remove proprietary notices from the software.
NVIDIA CUDA Toolkit, NVIDIA cuDNN and various other NVIDIA SDKs are licensed under separate SDK license agreements, which are officially documented on the NVIDIA Documentation Hub.
To address the unique needs of different technologies, NVIDIA uses Product-Specific Terms as addendums to the main Software License Agreement to modify the main terms as necessary.
AI Products: Consolidates terms for both free Community Products, and paid software subscriptions for AI, such as NVIDIA AI Enterprise, and NVIDIA Mission Control. These terms now also apply to Omniverse software.
vGPU Products: Covers NVIDIA vWS, NVIDIA vPC and NVIDIA vApps.
Networking: Covers NVIDIA DOCA, NVIDIA UFM, and NVIDIA NetQ.
Confidential Computing: Specific terms for remote attestation and trust services.
Understanding these terms is essential for managing your NVIDIA software subscription portfolio:
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Subscription | A fixed-duration license (e.g., 1 or 3 years) that includes software access and technical support. |
| License Program | Grants defined by use case: Production (deployment), Evaluation (90-day trial), Developer (development and testing only), and NFR (Not For Resale for reseller partners). |
| License Type | NVIDIA typically licenses enterprise software per GPU. Other models include per Concurrent User (CCU) and Usage-based (e.g., per GPU hour). |
| Part Number | The Enterprise Product Part Number that is ordered from NVIDIA channel partners defines the subscription duration, License Types and other subscription attributes for Enterprise Products. |
Support for Enterprise Products is governed by a unified NVIDIA Enterprise Support Policy, which is an integral part of the license agreement.
Business Standard (Included): Provided with all subscriptions, offering 8x5 local business hour access and standard response times.
Business Critical (Add-on): An optional 24x7 support level for mission-critical deployments, offering faster response times (e.g., 1 hour for Severity 1 issues).
NVIDIA Inference Microservices (NIMs) are licensed as a runtime under NVIDIA AI Enterprise. Importantly, the Models themselves (e.g. Nemotron and community models) are licensed separately from the NIM container.
Model Licenses: Models may be licensed under an Open Source license (e.g. OpenMDW or Apache 2.0), the NVIDIA Open Model License, the NVIDIA Open Model Agreement, the NVIDIA Community Model License or other model licenses. Always check the Model Card on NGC for specific terms.
The Embedded License Model allows partners to integrate and redistribute NVIDIA software into their own products or services. Under this model:
The Partner is the primary licensee and provides Frontline Support to end-users.
The End-User accepts the partner's EULA rather than NVIDIA's.
NVIDIA provides Backline Support to the partner for issues specific to NVIDIA software components.
Orders for NVIDIA software subscriptions are placed through our extensive channel partner network, rather than directly with NVIDIA.
Where To Purchase: Subscriptions can be purchased through NVIDIA Partner Network (NPN) resellers, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), and Cloud Service Provider (CSP) marketplaces. Locate an NPN reseller via the NVIDIA Partner Network Locator.
Purchase Agreements: When buying from an NPN reseller, OEM or a CSP marketplace, the purchase agreement (covering price, quantities, and payment terms) is strictly between the you and the channel partner.
Unified Licensing: Regardless of the purchase route, the use of the software is always governed by the NVIDIA Software License Agreement between NVIDIA and the end customer.