List of distributed computing projects


This is a list of distributed computing and grid computing projects. For each project, donors volunteer computing time from personal computers to a specific cause. The donated computing power comes typically from CPUs and GPUs, but can also come from home video game systems. Each project seeks to solve a problem which is difficult or infeasible to tackle using other methods.

Distributed computing projects

Active projects

ProjectLaunchedHomeCategoryResearch focusBOINC basedActive processing unitsPerformance in TeraFLOPS-
Albert@home2011-12-23University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Max Planck InstituteAstrophysicsTesting project for Einstein@home -
Asteroids@home2012-06-20Charles University in Prague, CzechAstrophysicsTo significantly enlarge our knowledge of the physical properties of asteroids -
BURP2004-06-17ArtRendering of 3D animations -
CAS@home2010-07-19Chinese Academy of SciencesPhysics, biochemistry, and othersEncourage Chinese scientists to use volunteer computing for their research -
Cleanmobility.now2013-08ChemistryFind safer and greener materials for e-vehicle batteries -
Climate Prediction2003-12-09Oxford UniversityClimate studyAnalyse ways to improve climate prediction models -
Collatz Conjecture2009-01-06PrivateMathematicsStudy the Collatz conjecture, an unsolved conjecture in mathematics -
Cosmology@Home2007-06-26University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignAstronomyFind the most accurate models that best describe the universe -
Distributed.net1997-01-28PrivateCryptography, MathematicsCrack the RC5-72 cipher, find optimal Golomb rulers of length 28 -
DreamLab2015-09-11Garvan Institute of Medical Research, AustraliaCancer researchBreast, ovarian, prostate and pancreatic cancer.-
Einstein@Home2005-02-19University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Max Planck InstituteAstrophysicsSearch for pulsars using radio signals and gravitational wave data -
Electric Sheep1999-09-30Art -
Enigma@Home2007-09-09PrivateCryptographyDecode three unbroken Enigma messages from World War II -
Fishtest2013-02-13PrivateSoftware testing, game-playingValidates patches to the Stockfish chess engine by playing thousands of chess games at fast time controls between different versions of the engine194 -
Folding@home2000-10-01Washington University in St. LouisMolecular biologyUnderstand protein folding, misfolding, and related diseases, with a minor emphasis in protein structure prediction. Computing power also harnessed the power of PlayStation 3s. GPUs: AMD 79,498; Nvidia: 356,065 CPUs: 593,983 -
Galaxy Zoo2007-07-11AstrophysicsClassifies galaxy types from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.-
Gerasim@Home2007-02-10RussiaMathematicsResearched in discrete mathematics and logic control systems -
Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search 1996-01-earlyPrivateMathematicsSearches for Mersenne primes of world record size -
iThena2019-09-25PrivateComputer scienceGenerally computer networks -
Leela Chess Zero2018-03-04Software testing, game-playingTrains chess neural-networks with deep reinforcement learning. Experiments with training parameters and net architectures.44 -
LHC@home2004-01-09CERNPhysicsHelping physicists compare theory with experiment, in the search for new fundamental particles and answers to questions about the Universe. -
Milkyway@Home2007-07-07Rensselaer Polytechnic InstituteAstronomyCreate a highly accurate three-dimensional model of the Milky Way galaxy using data collected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey -
MindModeling@Home2007-03-17University of Dayton Research Institute and Wright State UniversityCognitive scienceBuilds cognitive models of the human mind -
Moo! Wrapper2011-02-05PrivateCryptographyCombines BOINC with distributed.net to try to break the RC5 cipher -
NFS@Home2009-09-05California State University FullertonInteger factorizationPerforms parts of the Number Field Sieve in the factorization of large integers -
NumberFields@Home2011-08-12Arizona State University's School of MathematicsNumber theorySearch for number fields with special properties to assist with the formulation of mathematical conjectures -
Primaboinca2010-07-30RheinMain University of Applied SciencesMathematicsSearch for counterexamples to Agrawal's conjecture and Popovych's conjecture, which relate to the identification of prime numbers -
Radioactive@home2011-10-21PolandPhysicsReal-time radioactivity monitoring, detected by gamma sensors connected to volunteer computers -
RALPH@home2006-02-15University of WashingtonSoftware testingTest project for Rosetta@home -
RNA World2009-05-21Private research group in Marburg, GermanyMolecular biologyUses bioinformatics software to study RNA structure -
Rosetta@home2005-10-06University of WashingtonMolecular biologyProtein structure prediction for disease research -
SETI@home Beta2006-01-12University of California, BerkeleySoftware testingTest project of SETI@home -
Stardust@home2006-08-01University of California, Berkeley, NASA, The Planetary SocietyAstronomyScans/analyzes the collection grid from the NASA Stardust mission to capture particles from the coma of comet Wild 2-
Twin Prime Search2006-04-13MathematicsSearches for large twin primes-
Universe@Home2015-02-19Copernicus Astronomical Centre of the Polish Academy of SciencesAstronomyUniverse@Home aims to create the first database of the simulated stellar content of the Universe, from the earliest stars to the most exotic black hole binaries.
WEP-M+2 Project2006-05-12London, England, United KingdomMathematicsInvestigates the factorization of Mersenneplustwo prime numbers -
WUProp@Home2010-03-27PrivateStatisticsCollect various statistics about other BOINC projects -
YAFU2011-09-01Software testing, MathematicsTest BOINC server software, integer factorization -
yoyo@home2007-07-19PrivateMathematics, physics, and evolutionData structure analysis to help prove a conjecture, elliptic curve factorization, pion creation in a particle accelerator, evolution research, find the shortest optimal Golomb ruler of length 28 -

Inactive projects

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ProjectLaunchedTerminatedHomeCategoryResearch focusBOINC based
ABC@home2006-11-212014-06-01Mathematical Institute of Leiden University, KennislinkMathematicsFind triples related to the ABC conjecture, one of the greatest open problems in mathematics.
AlmereGrid Grid2006-09-27Almere, the NetherlandsA number of applications from local researchers.
AlmereGrid TestGrid2008-02-24Test of the AlmereGrid project.
AndrOINCPrivateCryptographyBroke Motorola's 1024-bit RSA key used to sign the boot and recovery partition partitions on the Motorola Milestone smartphone.
AQUA@home2008-12-102011-08-23D-Wave Systems, CanadaQuantum computingUsed Quantum Monte Carlo to predict the performance of superconducting adiabatic quantum computers on a variety of problems.
ATLAS@Home2014-06-192017-04-07CERNPhysicsATLAS@Home is a research project that uses volunteer computing to run simulations of the ATLAS experiment at CERN.
Background PiComputes decimal digits of pi using digit extraction method.
Biochemical LibraryVanderbilt UniversityMolecular biologyPerformed research using the Biochemical Algorithms Library into proteins and their interactions with small molecules for disease research.
Chess960@home2006-03-20PrivateGames and PuzzlesAnalysis of chess 960.
Comcute20102016Gdańsk University of Technology, Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications and InformaticsMathematics, Artificial intelligence, Physics
Compute for Humanity2015-082017PrivateCryptocurrencies, Charitable Organizations
ConstellationStudents at the University of Stuttgart, GermanyAerospace, EngineeringVarious aerospace-related science and engineering problems.
CorrelizerEpiGenSys Consortium and EraSysBio+, part of the Seventh Framework Program of the European UnionGeneticsThe sequential organization of genomes, and its connection to their 3D architectural organization.
DENIS@Home2015-04-082018-05San Jorge UniversityMedicine and Biology
DistributedDataMining2010-03-042018-04-20Data analysis, machine learningResearch in the various fields of data analysis and machine learning, such as stock market prediction and analysis of medical data
DistrRTgen2008-01-122014-06PrivateCryptographyAnalysis of hash strength for password security by developing rainbow tables.
DNA@homeRensselaer Polytechnic InstituteDiscovered what regulates the genes in DNA using statistical algorithms.
DrugDiscovery@homePrivateDrug designSupported in silico drug design of chemical compounds for medicines in the fields of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.
eOn2014-05-08University of Texas at AustinChemistryCalculated the evolution of an atomic-scale system over time, such as a chemical reaction or diffusion.
Evolution@Home2001-04-03Uses evolutionary algorithms to optimize the parameters of different kinds of machine learning algorithms
FreeHAL20062012PrivateArtificial intelligenceCompute essential information for software which seeks to imitate human conversation.
Genome@home2001-02-012004-03-08Stanford UniversityMolecular biologyDesigned new genes that can form working proteins in the cell that have not been found in nature.
Goldbach's Conjecture2009-11-092011-06Tests Goldbach's weak conjecture.
Golem@home20002001-09-03Brandeis UniversityRoboticsUsed evolutionary computation to design robotic locomotion systems.
2008-11-222010-02-21PrivateMathematicsUsed a computational approach to the graceful tree conjecture, proving that every tree with at most 35 vertices is graceful
Hydrogen@Home2007-10-222011-02Searches for the most efficient method of hydrogen production
IBERCIVIS2008-06-222016-07Spanish universities and research centersVarious Spanish projects
Ideologias@home2011-05-19Complutense University of Madrid, SpainSocietyUsed social networking mathematical models to study the ideological evolution of a group of people over time.
Leiden Classical2005-05-122018-06-05Leiden University, the NetherlandsChemistryGeneral classical mechanics for students or scientists
LHC@home
Virtual LHC@home		2011-08-012017-03CERNPhysicsRun virtual simulations of high-energy particle collisions in a computational search for new fundamental particles for the Large Hadron Collider at CERN
2006-01-092009-11-15HistoryDecrypts Enigma messages from World War II
Magnetism@home2008-06-09Donetsk Institute for Physics and Technology, UkraineMagnetism, nanotechnologyExplored magnetization patterns.
Malaria Control2006-12-192016-01-28Swiss Tropical InstituteEpidemiologySimulate the transmission dynamics and health effects of malaria.
Mersenne@home2012PrivateMathematicsSearched for Mersenne primes. Discontinued because the creator lacked time to administer it
MoneyBee2000-092010Finance
Muon1 Distributed Particle Accelerator Design2017PhysicsSimulate and design parts of the Neutrino Factory particle accelerator
Najmanovich Research GroupUniversité de SherbrookeMolecular biologyResearch in molecular recognition
Neurona@home2011-06-14Complutense University of Madrid, SpainNeural networkSimulating the behavior of a large and complex network of cellular automata neurons.
NFSNET2010Integer factorizationUsed the general number field sieve to factor increasingly large integers. Discontinued and replaced by NFS@Home.
NNGenerator2014-10-202016PrivateMathematics, finance, and artificial neural networksDistributed system based on neural networks for analysis and forecasting time series
Optima@homeInstitute for Systems Analysis of Russian Academy of SciencesOptimizationSolve various large-scale optimization problems. Currently finding molecular conformations which have minimal potential energy.
Orbit@home2008-04-032013-02-16Planetary Science InstituteAstronomyMonitored and studied the hazards posed by near-earth asteroids.
Pi Segment2006Independent projectMathematicsLooked for specific digits of Pi and make volunteer computing more popular in China
Pirates@home2004-02-06Spy Hill ResearchSoftware testingTest of BOINC, no current scientific computation.
POEM@Home2007-13-112016-10-04University of Karlsruhe, GermanyMolecular biologyProtein structure prediction, cellular signaling, protein aggregation, and drug design
QMC@Home2006-03-032013-01University of Münster, GermanyChemistryStudy the structure and reactivity of molecules using quantum chemistry and Monte Carlo techniques
Quake Catcher Network2008-02-032018-04Stanford UniversitySeismologyUses accelerometers connected to personal computers to detect earthquakes and to educate about seismology
Renderfarm.fi2009-summerPrivate Art2D and 3D rendering for animation artists.
RSA Lattice Siever20092012-08Integer factorizationAssisted other factoring projects to achieve their academic goals. Merged into NFS@Home because its server was outdated
SAT@home2011-09-292017-02Russian Academy of SciencesCryptanalysis, MathematicsVarious applications related to the boolean satisfiability problem, inversion of specific stream cipher functions
Second Computing2008-04-102012-08Assesses biopolymer dynamics, and models the behavior of clonal colonies in a prairie ecosystem
SETI@home1999-05-172020-03-31University of California, BerkeleyAstrobiologySearch for extraterrestrial life by analyzing specific radio frequencies emanating from space
SIMAP2006-04-262014-05-30University of ViennaMolecular biologyCalculated similarities between proteins.
SLinCAG.V.Kurdyumov Institute for Metal Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of UkraineMaterials scienceStudies scaling laws in cluster aggregation.
Spinhenge@home2006-05-192011-09-28Bielefeld University of Applied SciencesNanotechnologyStudied nano-magnetic molecules for research into localized tumor chemotherapy and micro-memory.
Stop@home2017-02-282018-01PrivateMathematicsLooking for prime k-tuples
Sudoku@vtaiwan2011-01-052013-09-05National Center for High-performance Computing, Hsinchu Science and Industrial Park, Hsinchu City, Taiwan.Games and PuzzlesConfirmed solution to the "Minimum Sudoku Problem." After running for more than 2½ years, the project was completed - it was confirmed that no 16-clue Sudoku exists, and so the fewest clues possible is 17.
Superlink@Technion2007-05-03Technion – Israel Institute of TechnologyGenetic linkage analysisUses genetic linkage analysis to help find disease-provoking genes.
theSkyNet POGS2011-09-132018-05-02International Centre for Radio Astronomy ResearchAstronomyAnalysis of radio astronomy data from telescopes such as the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder and The Square Kilometre Array
µFluids@home2005-09-192010-11Purdue UniversityPhysics, AeronauticsSimulated microfluidics problems and two-phase flows in microgravity.
USPEX@Home2017-04-042019-03Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Russian Academy of Science, Skolkovo Institute of Science and TechnologyChemistry, Physics, Materials scienceComputational prediction of structure and properties of new chemical compounds for various applications
Virtual Prairie2008University of HoustonBotanical ecosystemsProvided ecological guidelines on the design of prairies with the best potential for water purification.
VTU@homeVilnius Gediminas Technical University and Kaunas University of TechnologySoftware testingSupported various research projects at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University.
Wieferich@Home2007-12-292017MathematicsSearches for new Wieferich primes

Grid computing projects

While distributed computing functions by dividing a complex problem among diverse and independent computer systems and then combine the result, grid computing works by utilizing a network of large pools of high-powered computing resources. These are typically "umbrella" projects that have a number of sub-projects underneath them, with multiple research areas.
ProjectLaunchedHomeCategoryResearch focusBOINC basedActive processing unitsPerformance in TeraFLOPS
EDGeS@Home2009-10MTA SZTAKI Laboratory of Parallel and Distributed Systems, HungaryEuropean researchSupport the execution of selected scientific applications developed by the EGEE and EDGeS community
GPUGRID2007-12-05Barcelona Biomedical Research ParkMolecular biologyPerform full-atom molecular simulations of proteins on Nvidia GPUs for biomedical research
PrimeGrid2005-06-12PrivateMathematicsSearch for world record sized prime numbers, search for particular types of primes, such as 321 primes, Cullen-Woodall primes, Proth prime, prime Sierpinski numbers, and Sophie Germain primes. Subprojects also include Seventeen or Bust, and the Riesel problem.
SZTAKI Desktop Grid2005-05-26MTA SZTAKI Laboratory of Parallel and Distributed Systems, HungaryMathematicsFind all the generalized binary number systems up to dimension 11, understand basic universality classes of nonequilibrium system
The Lattice Project2003-lateUniversity of Maryland Center for Bioinformatics and Computational BiologyLife scienceVarious scientific analysis projects
World Community Grid2004-11-16IBM Corporate Community RelationsHumanitarian research on disease, natural disasters, and hungerDisease research, various worldwide humanitarian problems. Subprojects include GO Fight Against Malaria, Drug Search for Leishmaniasis, Computing for Clean Water, Clean Energy Project, Discovering Dengue Drugs - Together, Help Cure Muscular Dystrophy, Help Fight Childhood Cancer, Help Conquer Cancer, Mapping Cancer Markers, Human Proteome Folding Project, FightAIDS@Home, Uncovering Genome Mysteries, Let's outsmart Ebola together, Help Stop TB, OpenZika, Smash Childhood Cancer.

Grid computing infrastructure

Physical infrastructure projects

These projects attempt to make large physical computation infrastructures available for researchers to use: