NVIDIA Virtual GPU Software Packaging, Pricing, and Licensing Guide#
Terminology#
The following table lists the terms that will be used throughout this guide.
Term |
Meaning |
|---|---|
SUMS |
Support, Upgrade and Maintenance program. |
Perpetual License |
A non-expiring, permanent software license that can be used on a perpetual basis without the need to renew. SUMS is required and is available in five-year increments. One-year SUMS available only for renewals. |
Annual Subscription |
A software license that is active for a fixed period as defined by the terms of the subscription. An annual subscription includes SUMS for the duration of the license term. |
License Server |
An application that manages license allocation, installed on a physical or virtual server. |
Concurrent User (CCU) Licensing |
A method of allocating licenses based on the number of VMs that are concurrently being used. A CCU license allows only one concurrent VM to be hosted per license. For application streaming or session-based solutions, each concurrent user requires a CCU license. |
GPU |
Graphics Processing Unit. |
Overview#
NVIDIA virtual GPU (vGPU) solutions bring the power of NVIDIA GPUs to virtual desktops,applications, and workstations, accelerating graphics and compute to make virtualized workspaces accessible to creative and technical professionals working from home offices or anywhere.
This guide covers the entitlement, packaging, and licensing of the NVIDIA virtual GPU (vGPU) software family of products. It is intended to be a quick reference to understand the product portfolio at a high level, with the corresponding SKU information. It does not contain detailed product information, which can be obtained from the NVIDIA vGPU website. This guide is not intended to replace or contradict the End User License Agreement (EULA). Refer to the EULA for more detailed information.
Virtual GPU Software Products#
NVIDIA vGPU desktop and application virtualization solutions are designed to bring the power of virtualization to the users who need to be their most productive. vGPU technology ensures application compatibility, meaning any application that can run in a physical desktop environment can run in a virtual environment. Organizations can now expand their virtualization footprint without compromise.
The following NVIDIA vGPU software products are available:
NVIDIA Virtual Applications (vApps)
NVIDIA Virtual PC (vPC)
NVIDIA RTX Virtual Workstation (vWS)
NVIDIA vApps#
This product is for organizations deploying Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, RDSH or other app streaming or session-based solutions. Designed to deliver PC-level applications and server-based desktops, NVIDIA vApps allows users to access any Windows application at full performance on any device, anywhere.
Windows Server hosted RDSH desktops are also supported by NVIDIA vApps.
NVIDIA vPC#
This product is ideal for users who want a virtual desktop with great user experience leveraging PC Windows applications, browsers, and high-definition video. NVIDIA vPC delivers a native experience to users in a virtual environment, allowing them to run all their PC applications at full performance.
NVIDIA RTX vWS#
This product is ideal for compute intensive workloads, such as accelerated graphics, NVIDIA Omniverse, and AI development. It is suitable for high-end designers who use powerful 3D content creation applications such as Dassault CATIA, SOLIDWORKS, 3DExcite, Siemens NX, PTC Creo, Schlumberger Petrel, or Autodesk Maya. NVIDIA vWS allows users to access their applications with full features and performance, anywhere, on any device.
Supported NVIDIA GPUs#
NVIDIA vGPU software brings accelerated computing to NVIDIA data center deployments along with supported NVIDIA data center GPUs listed in Table 2. Find certified servers that are supported by NVIDIA GPUs and vGPU software here.
GPU |
GPU Memory |
Recommended vGPU Software |
|---|---|---|
NVIDIA M10 |
4 x 8 GB |
NVIDIA vPC |
NVIDIA M60 |
2 x 16 GB |
NVIDIA vWS (Entry to Mid), NVIDIA vPC |
NVIDIA M6 [1] |
1 x 8 GB |
NVIDIA vWS (Entry), NVIDIA vPC |
NVIDIA P4 |
1 x 8 GB |
NVIDIA vWS (Entry to Mid) |
NVIDIA P6 [1] |
1 x 16 GB |
NVIDIA vWS (Mid), NVIDIA vPC |
NVIDIA P40 |
1 x 24 GB |
NVIDIA vWS (Mid to High-end) |
NVIDIA P100 NVIDIA P100 SXM2 |
1 x 12 GB / 1 x 16 GB 1 x 16 GB |
NVIDIA vWS (Mid to High-end) |
NVIDIA T4 |
1 x 16 GB |
NVIDIA vWS (Entry), NVIDIA vPC |
NVIDIA V100 NVIDIA V100 FHHL NVIDIA V100 SXM2 NVIDIA V100S |
1 x 16 GB / 1 x 32 GB 1 x 16 GB 1 x 16 GB / 1 x 32 GB 1 x 32 GB |
NVIDIA vWS (Mid to High-end) |
NVIDIA RTX 6000 |
1 x 24 GB |
NVIDIA vWS (High-end) |
NVIDIA RTX 8000 |
1 x 48 GB |
NVIDIA vWS (High-end) |
NVIDIA A40 |
1 x 48 GB |
NVIDIA vWS (High-end) |
NVIDIA A10 |
1 x 24 GB |
NVIDIA vWS (Mid) |
NVIDIA A16 |
4 x 16 GB |
NVIDIA vWS (Entry), NVIDIA vPC |
NVIDIA A2 |
1 x 16 GB |
NVIDIA vWS (Entry), NVIDIA vPC |
NVIDIA A6000 |
1 x 48 GB |
NVIDIA vWS (High-end) |
NVIDIA A5000 |
1 x 24 GB |
NVIDIA vWS (Mid) |
NVIDIA A5500 |
1 x 24 GB |
NVIDIA vWS (High-end) |
NVIDIA L2 |
1 x 48 GB |
NVIDIA vWS (Entry), NVIDIA vPC |
NVIDIA L20 |
1 x 48 GB |
NVIDIA vWS (Mid to High-end) |
NVIDIA L40 / L40S |
1 x 48 GB |
NVIDIA vWS (High-end) |
NVIDIA L4 |
1 x 24 GB |
NVIDIA vWS (Entry to Mid), NVIDIA vPC |
NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada |
1 x 48 GB |
NVIDIA vWS (High-end) |
NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada |
1 x 48 GB |
NVIDIA vWS (High-end) |
NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada |
1 x 32 GB |
NVIDIA vWS (Mid) |
NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition |
1 x 96 GB |
NVIDIA vWS (High-end), NVIDIA vPC |
NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell Server Edition |
1 x 32 GB |
NVIDIA vWS (Entry), NVIDIA vPC |
Virtual GPU Software Product Details#
NVIDIA vGPU software is the industry’s most advanced technology for sharing true virtual GPU hardware acceleration between multiple users without compromising the visual compute experience. This virtualization technology ensures complete application compatibility, which means features and experience are the same as they would be on a physical device.
vGPU Software Products and Entitlement#
Each NVIDIA vGPU software product includes the feature entitlements listed in the tables below.
Feature |
NVIDIA vApps |
NVIDIA vPC |
NVIDIA vWS |
|---|---|---|---|
License Entitlement |
|||
Concurrent User (CCU) |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
Capability Entitlement |
|||
Desktop Virtualization |
✓ |
✓ |
|
RDSH App Hosting |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ [2] |
RDSH Desktop Hosting |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ [2] |
Compute Virtualization |
✓ |
||
Windows Guest OS Support |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
Linux Guest OS Support |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
Maximum Displays |
1 [3] |
4 |
4 |
Maximum Resolution [4] |
1280 × 1024 |
5120 × 2880 (5K) |
7680 × 4320 (8K) |
NVIDIA RTX Enterprise Features |
✓ |
||
OpenGL, DirectX and Vulkan |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
CUDA and OpenCL Support |
✓ [5] |
||
ECC and Page Retirement [6] |
✓ |
||
Multi-vGPU |
✓ |
||
NVLink |
✓ |
||
GPU Pass Through Support [7] |
✓ |
✓ |
|
Bare Metal Support |
✓ |
✓ |
|
AI Development |
✓ |
vGPU Profile Sizes Supported on Blackwell [8]
Profile Size |
NVIDIA vApps |
NVIDIA vPC |
NVIDIA vWS |
|---|---|---|---|
2 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
|
3 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
4 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
|
6 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
|
8 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
|
12 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
|
16 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
|
24 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
|
32 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
|
48 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
|
96 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
vGPU Profile Sizes Supported on Ada [8]
Profile Size |
NVIDIA vApps |
NVIDIA vPC |
NVIDIA vWS |
|---|---|---|---|
1 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
2 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
3 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
4 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
|
6 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
|
8 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
|
12 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
|
16 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
|
24 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
|
48 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
vGPU Profile Sizes Supported on Ampere [8]
Profile Size |
NVIDIA vApps |
NVIDIA vPC |
NVIDIA vWS |
|---|---|---|---|
1 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
2 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
3 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
4 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
|
6 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
|
8 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
|
12 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
|
16 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
|
24 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
|
48 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
vGPU Profile Sizes Supported on Turing [8]
Profile Size |
NVIDIA vApps |
NVIDIA vPC |
NVIDIA vWS |
|---|---|---|---|
1 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
2 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
3 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
|
4 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
|
6 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
|
8 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
|
12 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
|
16 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
|
24 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
|
48 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
vGPU Profile Sizes Supported on Volta [8]
Profile Size |
NVIDIA vApps |
NVIDIA vPC |
NVIDIA vWS |
|---|---|---|---|
1 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
2 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
4 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
|
8 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
|
16 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
|
32 GB |
✓ |
✓ |
Virtual GPU Software Licensing#
NVIDIA vApps, NVIDIA vPC, and NVIDIA RTX vWS are available on a per Concurrent User (CCU) model. A CCU license is required for every user who is accessing or using the software at any given time, whether an active connection to the virtualized desktop or session is maintained.
NVIDIA vGPU software products can be purchased by enterprises as either perpetual licenses with annual Support Updates and Maintenance Subscription (SUMS), or as an annual subscription. All NVIDIA vGPU software products with perpetual licenses must be purchased in conjunction with a five-year SUMS. A one-year SUMS is available only for renewals. For annual licenses, SUMS is bundled into the annual license cost.
The annual subscription offering is a more affordable option to allow IT departments to better manage the flexibility of license volumes.
Subscription Concurrent User License#
An annual Enterprise subscription is active for a fixed period as defined by the terms of the subscription license. To be kept active, the license will need to be renewed at the end of the subscription period. The subscription license includes the software license and production level SUMS for the duration of the license subscription period.
Perpetual Concurrent User License#
A perpetual enterprise license allows for use of the licensed software indefinitely. Users that opt to license using this model are required to subscribe to SUMS for five years. The SUMS subscription can be renewed on a yearly basis after the expiration of the initial subscription.
NVIDIA License System#
The NVIDIA License System provides monitoring and reporting on license usage for capacity planning. It is available for download with the vGPU software packages from the NVIDIA Licensing Portal. This license server can be installed on either a physical server or, more likely, a dedicated virtual machine.
To ensure that the end user experience is not impaired by license overages or connection issues, the vGPU software runs with or without a valid license server connection. The license server allows the IT administrator to track license usage and determine correct sizing for their environments. In compliance with the EULA, IT administrators may also use any other method that reliably tracks the software usage to ensure they have enough licenses for their CCU or per GPU usage.
For more information about the NVIDIA License System, see the NVIDIA License System documentation.
General Purchasing Information#
NVIDIA vGPU software products can be purchased through NVIDIA Preferred Partners and select server OEMs. A list of these Preferred Partners and OEMs can be obtained here.
The following entitlements are included with NVIDIA vGPU Production SUMS.
Entitlement |
NVIDIA vGPU Production SUMS |
|---|---|
Maintenance |
Access to all maintenance releases, defect resolutions, and security patches for flexibility in upgrading as per the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Software Lifecycle Policy. |
Upgrades |
Access to all new major version releases including feature enhancements and new hardware support. |
Long-term branch maintenance |
Available for up to 3 years from general availability as per the NVIDIA Virtual GPU Software Lifecycle Policy. |
Direct support |
Direct access to NVIDIA support engineering for timely resolution of customer-specific issues. |
Support availability |
Enterprise Support Coverage: NVIDIA vGPU includes Business Standard support, with optional services such as Business Critical available. Full Enterprise Support details are outlined in the Enterprise Support and Services User Guide. |
Knowledgebase access |
✓ |
Web support |
✓ |
Phone support |
✓ |
Virtual GPU Software Pricing#
Note
Pricing is suggested pricing only. Contact your authorized NVIDIA partner for final pricing.
Subscription Concurrent User License Pricing#
License |
Annual Subscription Pricing |
|---|---|
NVIDIA Virtual Applications |
$10 per CCU subscription |
NVIDIA Virtual PC |
$50 per CCU subscription 4-year subscription - $43.75 per CCU 5-year subscription - $40 per CCU |
NVIDIA RTX Virtual Workstation |
$250 per CCU subscription 4-year subscription - $206.25 per CCU 5-year subscription - $180 per CCU |
Perpetual Concurrent User License Pricing#
License |
Annual Licensing plus SUMS Pricing |
|---|---|
NVIDIA Virtual Applications |
$20 per CCU perpetual license $5 SUMS per year |
NVIDIA Virtual PC |
$100 per CCU perpetual license $25 SUMS per year |
NVIDIA RTX Virtual Workstation |
$450 per CCU perpetual license $100 SUMS per year |
NVIDIA Education Pricing Program#
The NVIDIA Education Pricing Program supports the use of visual computing in teaching and research institutions. The program makes it easy to procure and administer NVIDIA solutions, software licensing, and services for qualified educational institutions and helps reduce their total cost. For more information on eligibility, review the NVIDIA Education Pricing Program documentation.
The Annual Subscription Model is available for NVIDIA vWS. The Perpetual Licensing Model is available only for NVIDIA vWS. Users that opt for the Perpetual Licensing Model are required to subscribe to SUMS for five years. The SUMS subscription can be renewed on a yearly basis after the expiration of the initial subscription.
License |
Pricing Model |
Price |
|---|---|---|
NVIDIA vWS |
Perpetual Licensing plus SUMS |
$99 per CCU perpetual license $25 SUMS per year |
NVIDIA vWS |
Annual Subscription |
$50 per CCU subscription |
Choosing the Right License#
The following table provides general guidance for determining which NVIDIA vGPU license is required based on the intended use case and workload type. This is not an exhaustive list of all supported environments or deployment scenarios. If you need additional help choosing the appropriate license, contact NVIDIA vGPU Support.
Use Case |
Description |
Required License (1 per concurrent user) |
|---|---|---|
PC-level virtual desktop |
Virtual desktops for standard office productivity applications and general business use. |
NVIDIA vPC |
Workstation / professional 3D virtual desktop |
Virtual desktops for professional graphics applications, 3D workflows, and other workstation-class use cases. |
NVIDIA vWS |
Published applications / RDSH / session-based applications |
Shared remote sessions or published applications delivered through RDSH or other session-based environments. |
NVIDIA vApps |
Professional 3D applications in RDSH or session-based environments |
Session-based environments that require support for professional graphics or workstation-class 3D applications. |
NVIDIA vWS |
GPU pass-through |
Virtual machines using GPU pass-through, such as DDA, for workstation-class or professional 3D workloads. |
NVIDIA vWS |
AI-enabled Professional Visualization |
Virtual workstations for professional visualization and AI development workflows, including AI model development, fine-tuning, and other GPU-accelerated AI use cases in a virtualized environment. |
NVIDIA vWS |