NVIDIA NIM FAQ
Q. What is NIM access via the NVIDIA Developer Program?
A. Members of the NVIDIA Developer Program have free access to NIM API endpoints for prototyping, and to downloadable NIM microservices for research, application development, and experimentation on up to 16 GPUs on any infrastructure—cloud, data center, or personal workstation. Access to NIM microservices is available through the duration of program membership.
Q. How can developers register for the NVIDIA Developer Program and access NIM microservices?
A. Developers can join the free NVIDIA Developer Program and access NIM at any time via the NVIDIA API Catalog. Users looking for enterprise-grade security, support, and API stability can select the option to access NIM via a free 90-day NVIDIA AI Enterprise Trial.
Q. What does NIM access via the NVIDIA Developer Program include?
A. The NVIDIA Developer Program gives you:
- Access to NIM microservices API endpoints accelerated by DGX Cloud, available at build.nvidia.com
- Ability to download and self-host NIM microservices on your own infrastructure
- License to use your self-hosted NIM for research, application development, and experimentation on up to 16 GPUs
- Community support via the NVIDIA Developer Forum
Q. How does access to NIM via NVIDIA Developer Program compare to the 90-Day NVIDIA AI Enterprise Trial?
A. The NVIDIA AI Enterprise 90-Day Trial is designed for production deployments and includes a license for commercial use, enterprise-grade security, support, and API stability. NIM access through the NVIDIA Developer Program is for prototyping, research, development and testing purposes only and does not include enterprise features or support.
| Offering | NVIDIA AI Enterprise 90-Day License | NIM via NVIDIA Developer Program |
|---|---|---|
| Target Audience | Organizations looking to move an application from development / testing to production (NVIDIA AI Enterprise required). | Developers interested in getting access to NIM microservices for prototyping, research, development, testing, learning, etc. |
| API Access | Prototype with free API endpoints of 160+ leading AI models powered by NVIDIA NIM | Prototype with free API endpoints of 160+ leading AI models powered by NVIDIA NIM |
| Downloadable software (NGC) | All of NVIDIA AI Enterprise (i.e. access to NGC enterprise catalog) | NIM containers only(does not provide access to all of NVIDIA AI Enterprise Essentials) |
| License | Production use | Research, development, and test use only |
| Term | 90 days | Access for duration of Developer Program membership |
| Unit of measure | GPU | GPU |
| # of GPUs (downloadable software only) | Unlimited | Up to 16 GPUs. Additional upon request. |
| Support | NVIDIA Enterprise Support | NVIDIA Developer Community Forum |
| NIM releases and ongoing updates | Yes | Yes |
Q. What does “production” mean?
A. Production use involves any use of NIM for purposes other than development, testing, research or evaluation such as conducting business transactions and any non-testing activity including activity serving real end-users. Using NIM in production requires an NVIDIA AI Enterprise license.
Q. What do I need to deploy NIM microservices into production?
A. For customers that don’t want to manage their own infrastructure, NVIDIA works with its ecosystem partners to offer production-ready NIM-powered API endpoints. Each model in build.nvidia.com points to partner deployment options when available.
For customers looking to self-host, NIM microservices can be deployed into production by purchasing an NVIDIA AI Enterprise subscription, which is available from NVIDIA, reseller partners and cloud marketplaces. NVIDIA AI Enterprise includes NVIDIA Enterprise Support with optional 24x7 Business Critical support. NVIDIA AI Enterprise is available as a free 90-Day license.
Q. What self-support resources are available for NIM through the NVIDIA Developer Program?
A. Developers can access documentation, tutorials, knowledge base articles and forum discussions from the NIM for Developers Page NIM for Developers | NVIDIA Developer.
Q. Is NIM free access via the NVIDIA Developer Program available for organizations, businesses, and enterprises?
A. NIM access through the NVIDIA Developer Program is designed for any individual who wants to use NVIDIA NIM for development, research and testing.
For production use of NIM and access to NVIDIA AI software for the complete AI development lifecycle, organizations can purchase NVIDIA AI Enterprise to leverage enterprise-grade software with dedicated feature branches, rigorous validation processes, and support including direct access to NVIDIA AI experts and defined service-level agreements. Organizations can also deploy NIM endpoints for production workloads on NVIDIA hosting partners.
Q. Which GPUs can I run NIM microservices on?
A. You can find a full list of our supported NVIDIA GPUs for NIM microservices. If you’d like to request a license for development and testing on more than 16 GPUs, please contact us.
Q. Are NIM microservices supported on Windows and Linux?
A. NIM is supported on Linux. NIM microservices are not currently tested on Windows or WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux).
Q. Where do I find my API key?
A. Log into API Catalog, find the model you want to use, and click “Get API Key.” This key is used to both authenticate with the docker registry to pull the NIM container (whether in the Brev environment or your own cloud/local environment) and/or allow you to make API calls to the model endpoint hosted on the API catalog.
Q. How do the rate limits work?
A. The NVIDIA API catalog is a trial experience of NVIDIA NIM, so the number of calls allowed during a certain period of time is designed to serve evaluation and prototyping needs only. The rate of requests will vary per model queried and may vary based on the number of concurrent users. To verify rate limits of the models being used, please check your account at the top right of the navigation bar of build.nvidia.com.
Q. Why are my requests on build.nvidia.com taking so long?
A. The NVIDIA API catalog offers a no-cost trial experience of NVIDIA NIM, and you may experience extended wait times during periods of high load. To ensure consistent performance, we recommend the following options:
-
Self-host the API on your cloud provider or on-prem. Research and test use is free under the ‘NVIDIA Developer Program’ access. Please note that your organization must have an NVIDIA AI Enterprise license for production use.
-
Use production-grade serverless NIM API on ecosystem partners Hugging Face with per-pay-use pricing. The NVIDIA AI Enterprise license is included with this option so you don’t need a separate license. You can check partner hosting availability on the individual model page.