What is the difference between solo and pool mining?
Bitcoin pays the whole block reward, currently 3.125 BTC plus transaction fees, to whoever finds the next valid block. Mining is a race of guesses, and your share of guesses is your hashrate divided by the whole network's hashrate, about 958 EH/s on 2026-10-05.
- Solo mining: you keep the entire reward if your miner finds a block, and get nothing otherwise. A "solo pool" such as Solo CK only provides the server; each block goes to the miner who found it, minus the service fee.
- Pool mining: many miners work together. When anyone in the pool finds a block, the reward is split by how much work each miner contributed, measured in shares.
The average income over a very long time is the same either way, minus fees. What changes is how lumpy it is. Solo is all or nothing; a pool smooths it out.
What are the odds of finding a block solo?
| Miner | Hashrate | Solo chance per day | Solo chance per year | Pool average per day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bitaxe Gamma | 1.2 TH/s | 1 in 5,500,000 | 1 in 15,000 | 57 sats |
| NerdQAxe++ | 4.8 TH/s | 1 in 1,400,000 | 1 in 3,800 | 229 sats |
| Avalon Nano 3S | 6 TH/s | 1 in 1,100,000 | 1 in 3,000 | 286 sats |
| Antminer S21 | 200 TH/s | 1 in 33,000 | 1 in 91 | 9,531 sats |
"Pool average per day" is what a fair pool would pay on average before fees. Odds use the difficulty on 2026-10-05; the odds calculator uses live values and any hashrate you type.
Each guess is independent, so a miner that has run for a year is no closer to a block than one switched on today. There is no "due" block.
What do solo pool operators say about tiny miners?
The operator of Solo CK, the best-known solo pool, puts it bluntly on the pool's front page: "Hashrates below 100GH are not recommended to mine Bitcoin as it is unrealistic they will ever find a block." A Bitaxe Gamma is above that line, at about 1.2 TH/s, but still has only about a 0.0066% chance per year.
Solo wins by small miners are real but rare. Block 887,212 in March 2025 and block 957,382 in July 2026 were both found by Bitaxe-class miners on solo pools. Can a Bitaxe find a block? lists the documented cases and why they make the news.
Should a small miner choose solo or a pool?
It depends on what you want from the miner:
- You want a lottery ticket. Solo. You accept that you will most likely never win, in exchange for a small chance at about 3.1 BTC.
- You want to see sats arrive. A pool. You get small, steadier payments, though on a small pool they still arrive in lumps when blocks are found.
- You run several miners. Some people split: most on a pool, one on solo.
Neither choice changes your average income much. The fee does: compare it, and check how and when the pool pays.
What changes on a small pool like DirectPool?
A pool's luck depends on its total hashrate. As an example, a pool with 1 EH/s has about a 14% chance per day of finding a block; a pool with 100 PH/s about 1.5%. DirectPool is small, so it finds blocks less often than the big pools, and when it does, each block pays out a larger lump to everyone who contributed. Its live hashrate is on the home page.
DirectPool sits between the two models. It uses PPLNS, which means "pay per last N shares": when the pool finds a block, the reward is split by shares over the last 7 days, and each miner's payout is written directly into the block's coinbase transaction. There is no balance held by the pool. Balances under 10,000 sats are carried forward to a later block. The fee is 1%. Read what PPLNS means for the details, and the verify page to check payouts yourself.
How do solo and pool fees compare?
| Option | Fee | Payout style |
|---|---|---|
| Solo CK | 2% | whole block to the finder, in the coinbase |
| DirectPool | 1% | PPLNS over 7 days, in the coinbase |
| Large custodial pools | varies by pool and payout method | pool holds a balance and pays out later |
| Your own node and solo software | none | whole block to you; you run the server |
Coinbase payouts mean the pool never holds your bitcoin. With a custodial pool, you trust the operator with your balance until it is paid out.
Can you switch between solo and pool later?
Yes, at any time. A miner only knows the pool address, port and user name you typed in its settings. To switch, change those fields, save and restart. Nothing is locked in, and there is no contract.
Two things to know before switching away from a pool that uses PPLNS. First, your shares stay in the pool's window for its length, 7 days on DirectPool, so if the pool finds a block during that time you are still paid for them. Second, any balance under the minimum payout waits for a later block. On solo, by contrast, there is nothing to carry over: either your miner finds a block or it does not.
Many miners start on a pool to confirm everything works, since a pool shows accepted shares and a hashrate quickly, then decide later whether to try solo.
Which solo mining myths should you ignore?
- "Lower difficulty settings improve your odds." No. Share difficulty only changes how often your miner reports work. The network target for a block does not change.
- "Best share counts toward a block." A best share that is close to the network difficulty is still a miss. It is a fun number, not progress.
- "Pools steal blocks from small miners." On a solo pool, the block template pays the finder's address; you can check it in the block on a block explorer such as mempool.space.