Classical nucleation theories of general application are taken as starting point to analyze the driving force for multicomponent gas hydrate nucleation from a single homogeneous phase. It is shown that the ratio between the specific surface energy and the critical radius of nucleation has a single value irrespective of the analyzed driving force expression. From this result, two driving force expressions for multicomponent gas hydrate nucleation are derived in the context of the so-called generalized nucleation theory, and it is demonstrated that the driving force for gas hydrates can be estimated using the same information given for the determination of the incipient formation points of the dispersed phase from a saturated phase. (C) 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 55: 2433-2447, 2009