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EnglishWhat Is Folding@home?
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Folding@home is a distributed computing project that turns your computer's idle processing power into part of a global supercomputer for biomedical research. It launched in October 2000, has run for more than 25 years, and is led by Dr. Greg Bowman and the Folding@home Consortium, a network of academic labs worldwide. You can start without creating an account, and the client is open source.
How it works
Your computer downloads a small piece of a real research simulation, runs it in the background, and sends the result back. You earn points, and the cycle repeats. Each machine handles only a fragment of the overall problem, which is how the project aggregates enormous amounts of compute from ordinary devices.
The project's own framing is simple: it takes about a minute to get going, and the work happens in the background while you use your computer normally.
What the project has produced
| Area | Reported result |
|---|---|
| COVID-19 | Reached 2.43 exaflops in April 2020 — described as the first computing system in history to cross that threshold — and helped identify a potential new antiviral in animal testing |
| Cancer | Work on BRCA1 revealed new therapeutic strategies to combat breast cancer |
| Alzheimer's | Work on ApoE is uncovering the mechanism behind the most common cause of dementia |
| Ebola | Identified transient "cryptic pockets" in the virus protein that other methods had missed |
| Overall output | 500+ peer-reviewed publications since launch |
The 2.43 exaflops figure is presented as larger than the top 500 supercomputers combined at that time.
Getting started
- Download — pick your platform: Windows, macOS, or Linux.
- Install — run the installer. No account is required to start.
- Fold — your computer downloads a research simulation, runs it in the background, and returns the result. You earn points, then repeat.
The project describes itself as free, safe, easy, and open source.
If you already run distributed computing
Folding@home has supported competitive teams since 2000. Power users can bring a GPU, join an existing team or start one, and climb the leaderboard. Full stats, project transparency, and an open client are available, along with a Discord, forum, and GitHub presence.
Who this suits
Folding@home fits you if you want to contribute spare compute to biomedical research with minimal setup and no account requirement, and if you're comfortable running a background client on your own hardware. If you need guaranteed control over exactly which research your cycles support, or you're working under institutional rules about running third-party software, check those constraints first — the project publishes project transparency data, which is the place to look before committing.