How to Start Folding with Folding@home

Updated

You can start folding in about a minute: download the installer for Windows, macOS, or Linux from foldingathome.org, run it, and let the client work in the background. No account is required to begin, and the software is free and open source. Your computer downloads a small piece of a real research simulation, runs it, and returns the result — earning you points as it goes.

What Folding@home Actually Does with Your Computer

Folding@home turns your computer's idle power into part of a distributed supercomputer for biomedical research. Instead of one giant machine, it splits a research simulation into small pieces and sends each piece to a volunteer's device. Your client computes its piece and sends the result back.

The project has run since October 2000 and is led by Dr. Greg Bowman and the Folding@home Consortium, a network of academic labs worldwide. According to the site, it has produced 500+ peer-reviewed papers and, in April 2020, became the first computing system to cross 2.43 exaflops — described as larger than the top 500 supercomputers combined.

Step-by-Step: Getting Started

The site lays out three steps:

  1. Download — Pick your platform: Windows, macOS, or Linux. One click.
  2. Install — Run the installer. No account is required to start. The client is open source.
  3. Fold — Your computer downloads a small piece of a real research simulation, runs it in the background, and returns the result. You earn points. Repeat.

The expected result after step 3 is that your machine quietly contributes compute while you keep using it normally, and your points accumulate over time.

What You Can Research by Folding

The project works on real diseases, and the site names several:

Disease area What Folding@home reports
Cancer Work on BRCA1 revealed new therapeutic strategies to combat breast cancer
COVID-19 Hit 2.43 exaflops during COVID-19 and helped identify a potential new antiviral in animal testing
Alzheimer's Work on ApoE is uncovering the mechanism of the most common cause of dementia
Ebola Found new ways to thwart Ebola by identifying transient "cryptic pockets" in the virus protein that other methods missed

Options for Power Users

If you already have experience with distributed computing, the site points to several ways to go further:

  • Bring your GPU — contribute graphics-card compute in addition to CPU.
  • Join a team or start one — Folding@home has supported competitive teams since 2000.
  • Climb the leaderboard — full stats are available.
  • Follow the project — live stats, a Discord server, a forum, GitHub, and latest research updates are all linked from the site.

Common Questions Before You Start

Do I need an account? No — the site states no account is required to start.

Is it free? The site describes it as free, safe, easy, and open source.

How long does setup take? The site says it takes about a minute.

What if I want to stop? The client runs in the background; you control when it runs on your machine.

Where do I get the installer? From foldingathome.org, using the "Get the installer" or "Start folding" links.