Frequently Asked Questions

About EarthFrame

Who owns EarthFrame?

EarthFrame is a Public Benefit Corporation founded by our core team members. We are privately owned. We aim to be transparent about who owns the company so you can understand our ambitions.

EarthFrame has not yet taken external funding and remains entirely founder-owned.

Is EarthFrame a non-profit?

No. EarthFrame is a for-profit Public Benefit Corporation, not a non-profit. This is intentional.

Why is EarthFrame a for-profit company?

We're a for-profit because:

  1. Sustainability – Our business model needs to generate revenue to survive long-term, fund R&D, and keep our team strong. Charities can disappear when funding dries up.

  2. Impact at Scale – For-profit companies can respond rapidly to serve their customers. We can deploy systems globally without depending on grants or donations.

  3. Accountability to Mission – As a Public Benefit Corporation, we have a legal obligation to balance profit with public benefit. Our charter requires us to consider environmental and social impact alongside financial performance.

  4. Respect for Communities – EarthFrame directly invests in communities' success through a variety of mechanisms including profit / revenue sharing, investment, and grants. Our futures are joined and our company, our partners, and our communities benefit directly from our shared success.

  5. Incentives Alignment - We believe our Public Benefit Corporation charter and organization aligns our incentives in the most direct manner available to us. Our structure encourages us to optimize our business to provide real value. We believe we are a much stronger company with societal, economic, and planetary pressures aligned in a common direction.

What is the public benefit of EarthFrame?

Our legal Public Benefit Corporation charter requires us to:

  • Reduce AI's environmental footprint – Making systems more efficient means less energy, less waste, less ecological impact
  • Advance data sovereignty – Enabling communities and nations to own their compute and data

In addition, while not in our charter, our company values commit us to:

  • Support open-source development – Publishing tools that anyone can use and improve
  • Create economic opportunity – Offering computing infrastructure that communities can own and operate
  • Foster regenerative practices – Building technology that strengthens rather than depletes local economies and ecosystems. We believe diverse, resilient, distributed local economies are beneficial to communities.

Products & Services

What do you build, develop, and sell?

EarthFrame builds three things:

  1. Hardware – Computing systems designed for efficiency, repairability, and sovereignty. Built in the USA, designed to last, optimized for the huge data processing and AI workloads. Radical designs including durable, portable, and modular systems. Scalable to full data center deployments. We really believe in our hardware design and build process and take an incredible amount of pride in it.

  2. Software – EarthFrame develops software for AI efficency, data sovereignty, and large scale data processing. Our roadmap includes products that touch many fields. Our first software product is WARPT CLI (open-source), a command line tool for monitoring system performance and power usage, stress testing, benchmarking, and optimization.

  3. Partnerships – We work with research institutions, communities, and organizations to deploy sustainable AI infrastructure tailored to their needs. We also partner with other companies we believe in to advance common goals.

How are EarthFrame systems different from other hardware providers?

Ground-up Hardware-Software Co-Design Focused on Maximum Efficiency - EarthFrame systems are designed as efficient units of data processing, with the end goal in mind from the start.

Sovereign by Design – Your data stays on your system. No cloud lock-in, no data exfiltration, no surveillance. When we offer telemetry, we aim to be transparent about what is collected and when.

Long-Lasting – Built for durability and repairability. We aim to support systems longer than other manufacturers by staying on the absolute cutting edge.

Transparent – You can measure exactly how your system performs and uses power. No black boxes. With our open-source tools you can even see and contribute to how we do it!

Built in the USA (or your community) – We control the supply chain and stand behind every system. When we can't deliver from the USA, we work with local partners to build your system locally.

Designed for Repair – You own your hardware, including the right to fix it. If you don't want to get your hands dirty, you can also buy a warranty and we'll fix it for you.

Optimized for Efficiency = More Money In Your Pocket – Not just raw performance, but performance-per-watt and samples-per-dollar. We care about what your system costs to run (monetarily and resource-wise).

Why should I use EarthFrame software?

WARPT CLI is for anyone running AI systems who wants to:

  • See the truth – Exactly how your hardware is performing and how much power it's using
  • Optimize ruthlessly – Identify inefficiencies and fix them
  • Make decisions – Based on real data, not vendor claims
  • Stay independent – Our telemetry is opt-in and local-first.
  • Join the community – It's open-source. Contribute, fork, adapt it for your needs.

Trust & Philosophy

Why should I trust EarthFrame?

Our customers have myriad companies to choose from for their hardware and software. Here's

  1. Public Benefit Corporation – We're legally bound to consider your interests and the environment's, not just shareholder profit.

  2. Transparent About Trade-offs – We won't tell you our systems are perfect. We'll tell you what they're optimized for and what they trade away.

  3. Open Source – You can audit our open-source code. You're not dependent on our promises; you can verify them yourself. While we must keep some code private, we aim to open source what we can while remaining solvent as a business.

  4. Accountability – Our founders have reputations and careers at stake. We are trying to build a generational company. We're not here to disappear next quarter.

  5. Community Focus – We share our time, energy, and revenue with partner communities. Our success means their success.

  6. Track Record – We're not vaporware. Our systems exist, and we have ample experience to design, improve, and deploy them.

How does EarthFrame serve communities?

We serve communities in multiple ways:

Direct Partnership – We work with businesses, Indigenous groups, research institutions, and local community organizations to deploy infrastructure they own and control.

Revenue Sharing – A portion of all our revenue goes back to communities we partner with, supporting their goals and autonomy. More details on our revenue sharing program will be available soon.

Open Ecosystem Appraoch – We publish tools and knowledge to encourage the growth of an entire ecosystem around us.

Training & Support – We help partners understand, operate, and maintain their systems—building local expertise.

Data Sovereignty – Communities keep their data and its benefits locally.

Technical & Practical

How do EarthFrame systems compare to cloud providers?

EarthFrame Cloud
Pricing Fixed upfront, no surprises Usage-based, can spike unpredictably
Data Location Stays in your region, your control Cloud provider's data center(s)
Operating Costs Predictable (power, maintenance) Variable (depends on usage, egress fees, storage)
Performance Predictable, dedicated resources Variable (shared resources, noisy neighbors)
Long-term Economics You own the asset Monthly/annual commitment

Choose based on your workload. Cloud is excellent for variable demand, rapid scaling, and experimental work. EarthFrame is for stable, ongoing systems where you know your compute needs and want to avoid unexpected bills. Plus, your data never leaves your facility or region—you control where it lives and who touches it.

Can I use EarthFrame systems alongside cloud?

Absolutely. Many organizations use both: local systems for security- or time-sensitive work, cloud for overflow or experimentation. We support hybrid architectures. Our software often works great on the cloud with zero need for modifications.

What are EarthFrame systems made of?

Hardware – Off-the-shelf, industry-standard components. Nothing locked-down. Built with components that are chosen to be widely available and repairable.

Software – Linux, open standards, and open-source where possible. Easy to understand, audit, and modify.

Longevity – We overspecify and overprovision hardware so that it isn't strained. Part of our efficiency drive is also to reduce e-waste, so we want your system to last as long as possible.

Why would you buy another EarthFrame system if you already own one then? Well, we hope that you become so successful you have to expand, and we hope no one can serve you the way we can.

How do I get started?

  1. Evaluate – Check our products page. Download warpt, give us feedback, and let us know how to better serve you.
  2. Contact Us – Let's talk about your use case. We'll recommend what actually fits.
  3. Pilot – Many customers start small, prove the model, then scale.
  4. Deploy – We support deployment, training, and ongoing optimization.

Pricing & Availability

Is EarthFrame the cheapest compute provider?

We do not participate in race-to-the-bottom pricing economics. Our business model centers sustainability, including economic sustainability. Our hardware is priced fairly and with the goal of making sure we're around to support you. When you buy it, we want you to feel confident you're making the right decision. While we are very often competitive on price, you may find we aren't the absolute cheapest. We do, however, hold ourselves to the standard of being the absolute best.

How much do EarthFrame systems cost?

Pricing depends on your configuration. Contact us for a quote based on:

  • Workload (AI training, inference, data processing)
  • Scale (single system or cluster)
  • Performance requirements
  • Timeline

We're transparent about pricing and will have an open conversation to start.

When will X product be available?

See our Products page for current availability:

  • Ember – Available now (backlog: 3-5 weeks)
  • 1 – Available starting January 15, 2026 (backlog: 4-6 weeks)
  • Mesa – Preorders available now (full delivery Spring 2026)

For coming soon products, sign up for updates.

Do you offer financing or lease options?

We offer financing and lease options, but with different terms than you may be used to (i.e., fixed-terms and a reliance on time premium rather than interest rates). We are still working out the exact pricing model for these. Contact us to discuss what works for your budget.

Mission & Impact

Do you support research?

Yes. We support:

  • Open science – Providing infrastructure for climate research, genomics, materials science
  • Data Sovereignty – We are deeply embedded in this space and contribute hardware and software to further data sovereignty research
  • Earth Friendly Computation – Academic research into sustainable AI

Contact us about research partnerships.

Can I contribute or volunteer?

Absolutely. We accept:

  • Code contributions – Open-source projects on GitHub
  • Expertise – Advising on architecture, deployment, community work
  • Partnerships – Institutions and organizations aligned with our mission
  • Funding – For specific projects or general support

See our Support Our Mission page for details.

Have a question not covered here? Contact us.