NVIDIA ACE
NVIDIA's digital human and NPC middleware: Audio2Face, speech, on-device models.
Overview
NVIDIA ACE: NVIDIA's digital human and NPC middleware: Audio2Face, speech, on-device models. It scores 81/100 in our audio, voice & NPCs ranking. Best for: Studios building high-end, on-device AI characters.
NVIDIA ACE is a set of SDKs and models for digital humans, including Audio2Face facial animation, speech recognition and on-device language models for NPCs.
Pros
- Free plan available
- Commercial use allowed
- Works with Unreal
- Unreal SDK
- Built-in voice
- Runs on device
Cons
- Needs technical skills
- Long-term memory: limited (Beta Game Agent SDK can save and reload conversations between sessions; long-term recall is up to you)
- NPCs trigger game actions: limited (Tool calls through the beta Game Agent SDK for C/C++ engines; needs a recent NVIDIA GPU)
- Multiple people at once: limited (Faces only: Audio2Face can animate several characters from separate audio streams at once)
- Hand or face tracking: limited (Audio-driven facial animation only (Audio2Face); no hand animation found)
- Retarget to your own rig: limited (Facial animation only: works with any character and custom blendshape sets)
NVIDIA ACE pricing
Unreal and Maya plugins MIT-licensed; NIM containers under NVIDIA terms
Monthly prices in USD as listed by NVIDIA ACE. Last checked 2026-10-21. Rights: The Unreal/Maya plugins and Audio2Face-3D SDK are MIT, and Audio2Face models use the NVIDIA Open Model License (commercially usable, NVIDIA claims no ownership of outputs); NIM containers fall under NVIDIA's software licence, and Audio2Emotion may only be used within Audio2Face.
Features
- Unity SDK Not confirmed
- Unreal SDK Yes
- Built-in voice Riva text-to-speech is one of the ACE components Yes
- Long-term memory Beta Game Agent SDK can save and reload conversations between sessions; long-term recall is up to you Partly
- NPCs trigger game actions Tool calls through the beta Game Agent SDK for C/C++ engines; needs a recent NVIDIA GPU Partly
- Runs on device Nemotron 4B on-device SLM; local Audio2Face-3D plugins need an NVIDIA GPU Yes
- Video to motion capture Not confirmed
- Text to motion Not confirmed
- Multiple people at once Faces only: Audio2Face can animate several characters from separate audio streams at once Partly
- Hand or face tracking Audio-driven facial animation only (Audio2Face); no hand animation found Partly
- Retarget to your own rig Facial animation only: works with any character and custom blendshape sets Partly
- Real-time Yes
Checked against NVIDIA ACE's own site, docs and pricing page. How we check
Score breakdown: 81/100
- Accessibility 21%74
- Output & integration 17%44
- Commercial rights 21%100
- Value 9%100
- Maturity 9%100
- Game focus 9%100
- Features 15%77
Based on price, free plan, commercial rights, exports and features. How we score
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Compare NVIDIA ACE
Compare with Convai and InworldSources
- https://developer.nvidia.com/ace
- https://developer.nvidia.com/ace-for-games
- https://docs.nvidia.com/ace/latest/workflows/kairos/kairos-unreal-plugin.html
- https://docs.nvidia.com/ace/ace-unreal-plugin/2.5/ace-unreal-plugin-changelog.html
- https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/ai-decoded-gamescom-ace-nemotron-instruct
- https://developer.nvidia.com/blog/deploy-the-first-on-device-small-language-model-for-improved-game-character-roleplay
- https://catalog.ngc.nvidia.com/orgs/nim/nvidia/containers/audio2face-3d/-/governing-terms
- https://github.com/NVIDIA/ACE
- https://github.com/NVIDIA/game-agent-sdk/blob/main/docs/sphinx/source/agent-deep-dive.md
- https://github.com/NVIDIA/game-agent-sdk
- https://github.com/NVIDIA/Audio2Face-3D-SDK
- https://github.com/NVIDIA/Maya-ACE
- https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/agreements/enterprise-software/nvidia-open-model-license/