GAMS and GAMSPy require a valid license to operate. Without a valid license, the system produces the following error message:
*** No license specified and no gamslice.txt found in standard locations.
For more technical details on how to install a license, refer to the GAMS Technical Documentation
or the GAMSPy Installation Guide
.
Free Licenses
Demo License
A free demo license, valid for 5 months, is included with every GAMS and GAMSPy distribution. It is primarily intended for the initial exploration of GAMS or GAMSPy and allows solving small models with up to 2,000 variables and 2,000 constraints for linear (LP, RMIP, and MIP) models, and 1,000 variables and 1,000 constraints for all other model types. Demo licenses are not intended for commercial or production use. They are time-limited and require a GAMS or GAMSPy version not older than 18 months. Upon expiration, users must either update their GAMS version or purchase a professional license.
Usage beyond the demo license limits results in the following error:
*** Status: Terminated due to a licensing error.
The community license allows users to generate and solve linear models (LP, MIP, RMIP) with up to 5,000 variables and constraints. For other model types, the limits are 2,500 variables and constraints.
Community licenses are restricted to non-commercial, non-production use by academic users, and expire after 12 months.
You can register and generate a community license in our academic portal
.
GAMSPy Academic License
GAMSPy academic licenses include access to full versions of a range of commercial solvers, including CPLEX, Xpress/Global, Mosek, COPT, and PATH, intended for academic purposes only. Also included are many free solvers such as HiGHS, SCIP, SHOT, and IPOPT.
You can register and generate your free GAMSPy license in our academic portal
.
Professional and Evaluation Licenses
Evaluation License
Non-academic users can request a time-limited evaluation license to test GAMS or GAMSPy without any functional restrictions for up to 30 days. Evaluation licenses are meant for testing under real-world conditions and are not permitted for commercial or production work. Contact sales@gams.com
to request an evaluation license.
Professional License
Professional licenses enable usage beyond the demo and community licenses, including unrestricted access to GAMS solvers without model size limitations. Licenses can be purchased with a one-time payment plus an annual maintenance & support fee, or as a subscription model with ongoing yearly payments. Professional licenses for academic users are available at discounted rates for research and teaching purposes.
Contact sales@gams.com
to request a free quotation and detailed purchasing information for a professional license.
Free licenses for certain solvers are also available under our academic program (see GAMS Academic Program
).
Benchmarking Restrictions
Academic users with free commercial solver licenses are not allowed to publish or distribute benchmarking results of any commercial solvers included in their GAMS license without direct written consent from GAMS.
This restriction is in compliance with requirements from commercial solver vendors.
