Replicate is a cloud service that runs machine learning models behind a simple API, so you can use them without managing your own servers.
In plain words
On Replicate, a model is a packaged program: you send inputs, such as a prompt or an image, and get outputs back. You can run public models other people have published, fine-tune a model on your own data, or publish your own. Models have versions, so an update does not silently change results for an app pinned to an older one.
A quick example
Imagine a hobby site that makes stickers from text. Each time a visitor types an idea, the site sends it to a public image model on Replicate and shows the picture that comes back, with no GPU of its own.
Where you'll meet it
- Running open-source image, video and language models from code.
- Hosting a custom or fine-tuned model.
Related
Sources
- DocsHow does Replicate work?, Replicate · read 29 Sept 2026
- DocsModels, Replicate · read 29 Sept 2026
Checked by WhatIsAI against the sources above · 29 Sept 2026. Spotted an error? Report it.