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Free NVIDIA NIM API: the variety one

NVIDIA's build.nvidia.com is useful when you want to try many hosted models from one key. Its live catalog includes NVIDIA Nemotron, MiniMax, GPT-OSS and other families behind one OpenAI-compatible endpoint at https://integrate.api.nvidia.com/v1. Get a key free at build.nvidia.com. Free usage is metered by credits, so NVIDIA is best as a breadth provider in a pool rather than a high-volume primary — which is exactly what freellmpool makes easy.

What NVIDIA's free tier is good for

Model evaluation and variety. If you want to compare Nemotron against Llama against Kimi without creating a separate account for each, build.nvidia.com gives you all of them from one key. It's less about raw daily volume (credits run down) and more about access to a broad shelf — including some models you won't easily find free elsewhere.

A few currently listed models

• nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b — NVIDIA's own reasoning-tuned model.
• nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b — a larger Nemotron route.
• minimaxai/minimax-m3 — MiniMax's current hosted route.
• openai/gpt-oss-20b — a smaller GPT-OSS route.

Use the live hosted model listing and freellmpool models -p nvidia together. Listed candidates are not automatically trusted: newly observed V4, Muse, Kimi K3, and Nemotron 3.5 routes remain disabled pending credentialed completion canaries.

Get a key and call it

curl https://integrate.api.nvidia.com/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $NVIDIA_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model":"nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b","messages":[{"role":"user","content":"Hi"}]}'

Limits and gotchas

• Free access is credit-metered rather than a flat daily request count, so heavy use depletes faster than on a recurring request-capped tier such as Groq.
• The catalog churns — models are added and retired; pin IDs you depend on and expect occasional changes.
• Thirteen formerly enabled IDs were absent from the August 29 live listing and are now disabled. See the dated activity audit for the exact sanitized evidence.
• Model IDs are namespaced by vendor (e.g. meta/, nvidia/, mistralai/) — copy them exactly.

Pool NVIDIA with other free tiers

The natural setup: NVIDIA for breadth and the occasional niche model, with a recurring tier such as Groq carrying the bulk of traffic. freellmpool lets you pin NVIDIA when you want a specific model and pool everything otherwise:

pip install freellmpool
export NVIDIA_API_KEY=...                # plus other free keys
freellmpool models -p nvidia            # browse NVIDIA's free catalog
freellmpool ask -m nvidia/nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b "..."   # provider/model pin

See also the full providers list and using multiple free LLM APIs together.

FAQ

Is the NVIDIA NIM API free?

Yes. build.nvidia.com offers free, credit-metered access to a large model catalog via an OpenAI-compatible endpoint at integrate.api.nvidia.com/v1. Create a key at build.nvidia.com.

Why use NVIDIA's free tier?

Breadth — many hosted model families from a single key, ideal for trying and comparing models without many signups.

What's the catch with NVIDIA's free tier?

It's metered by credits rather than a flat daily request cap, and the live catalog churns. Verify the model ID immediately before depending on it.

Part of freellmpool (MIT, open source). Catalog and limits change — check NVIDIA's docs. Updated 2026-08-29.