Do you need a stable income? Not mining yet and don’t know where to start? Already mining and want more? Choose the best mining pool! We will tell you what to look for.
Reward System
This is the most important point. How to choose the one that is right for your capacities? In short, you can do this: if you don’t have too much capacity, then choose PPS+, if you’ve got a lot, then a powerful pool with PPLNS is better, and if you have so much that it’s even enough for a neighbor, then SOLO mining can be your thing. We have already written about this in detail in previous posts, you can check them out here.
Hashrate, Uncles, Rejects — All of This
Hashrate is a measure of the power of computing equipment for mining or blockchain networks. Along with other parameters, it helps to determine the complexity of the cryptocurrency network, that is the number of calculations that need to be performed in order to find a new block and receive a reward for it. All these values matter if you mine on PPLNS or PPS+, where the reward is calculated based on the block found by the pool. It is believed that knowing the complexity of the network, the power of the equipment, and its energy consumption, miners can roughly calculate the profitability of the mining process.
We are often asked to show the overall statistics of the pool, but we show the logic of the reward payment instead. Because specifically for our PPS+, it doesn’t matter whether we find a pool of blocks or not: the reward for the share is calculated according to the average reward per day. This way, we save our users from the risks associated with the success of the pool.
In general, it is often nice to look at this data in infographics from an aesthetic point of view, even if practically it does not really clarify whether this particular pool is worth choosing.
Server Location
This is really important. Because theoretically, the same equipment, launched at the same time on different pools, will mine a different amount, also based on the fact one pool was closer to the server in the sense of the hashrate. Therefore, it is ideal if the servers are located on the same continent as you. Of course, in the event that mining is allowed in the country where you are located. And it is not limited by various licenses.
Commission Size
It seems like a good deal if there are no fees at all. That’s excellent, but iIt would be also good to know for sure that this is an honest pool that does not want to trick you, but in this case it probably either a promotion or a suspicious charity (aka scam). Often, pools charge fees in order to protect themselves and to level the luck factor. For example, when the block is not found, and the reward for each share still has to be paid. It also happens that the pool gives makes a very good profit so that there’s enough for 3% fee and for decent payments to miners.
Coins
By default, we are talking about ETH. Or about Ethereum Classic. It is much easier to look for a mining pool if you need a specific coin (then you have to choose not from 80, but, for example, from 20 or from 10 pools). On the other hand, you need to calculate it very thoughtfully whether your power is enough to mine a certain shitcoin and be in time to sell it at a good price. Because who knows what will happen to its rate tomorrow. As Whattomine shows us, for example, one coin can be in the top today, but in a couple of days, it can fall to the bottom. And stay there for a long time.
Dual Mining
It seems like a great project: you mine a few coins, collect profit in both pockets. However, there’s usually a catch too. For example, the Ezil.me pool offers dual mining with a profit of +10%, but we’ve been watching it for many days and even the outcome calculated with its own calculator with +10% were less than ours on the CoinFly pool.
Autoswitching
The pool automatically switches your mining to a more profitable coin at the moment. However, this is usually done without taking into account the specifics of the equipment. This means that all your efforts in overclocking and downvolting, trials and mistakes, and searching for this mining Grail, can be all for nothing. Again, the profit of the Whalesburg pool, which offers autoswitching, is lower. But it is worth noting that the calculator is updated every 5 seconds and the numbers jump within the range of 0.03 ETH to 0.1 ETH per 1gh/s (according to 15-minutes observations).
Position of the Pool on Miningpoolstats
Many people pay attention to this indicator, and we will also mention it. However, in all fairness, we must admit that this is not so important for the overall picture of profitability. As sometimes you can earn more on a small pool than on the giants like Ethermine. One of the crypto bloggers made such a comparison on YouTube (attention — Russian content), and revealed that Ethermine, for example, gave out 5% less than a small pool.
What They Write on Blogs and Forums
Read, multiply the good stuff by 10, divide the bad stuff by 2. Surely everyone knows that 9 out of 10 people will write about the negative experience, and only a couple, in the best case, about the good ones. If a blogger recommends a pool, then chances are you should give it a try. Bloggers are conscious about their reputation and won’t try to sell outright bullshit. Blogging tests are always conducted in fair conditions (based on our practice, at least).
In fact, everything is simpler: try it yourself and don’t compare hashrates and rejects, but the final amount in your wallet. At the end of the day, the good pool is the one that pays you more.
