Ethereum mining is one of the most profitable businesses that have a lot of enthusiasts. One of the most important steps in entering this business is choosing the best Ethereum mining pool that fits your needs. Ethereum mining pool is a group of miners working together to mine Ethereum and their reward is shared based on the mining power of each participant. This collaboration causes less volatility, reliable returns increase the miner’s chances of mining an Ethereum block, and so on. In this article we’ll show you the best Ethereum pools with the least mining fees.
Ethereum mining pool distribution
As you can see on this infographic, the Ethereum hashrate is dominated by 5 large pools, in order – Ethermine (27%), F2Pool (18%), SparkPool (16%), Nanopool (12%), MiningPoolHub (10%). Ethermine is controlling more than a quarter of the network hashrate at this time.
Choosing the best Ethereum mining pool
To choose an Ethereum mining pool, you should consider the following factors:
- Fees: can be the most important factor in your earnings and is usually from 1% to 3%.
- Payouts: This factor can also be effective. Before starting to work with a Pool, check how to calculate Payouts, Fees, etc. Payouts can be PPS (Pay-Per-Share), PPLNS (Pay-Per-Last N Shares), and PPS +.
- Pool size: If there is a large pool, there will be more chances of finding a block. However, your rewards will be smaller than in a smaller pool.
The payouts algorithm that’s used by the pool can be a make-or-break moment for prospective customers. Such is the importance of which payout method is used.
PPS (Pay-Per-Share)
It is the oldest and one of the most simplest payout methods, as you are paid for each share that you contribute to the mining pool. Some pools will not pay out in Ethereum though, and could use a different cryptocurrency like bitcoin for payouts.
Shares are directly related to the network difficulty, as more shares are required to find a block as the difficulty increases. The share price is also directly influenced by the block reward. Generally, if the block reward is halved without any corresponding change in difficulty, the share price will also be halved. Consequentially, if he difficulty increases by 2x without any change in the block reward, the share price will also be halved.
The common fluctuations in network difficulty imply that the share price will always be changing and pseudo-random (within a range). This can be bad for pool owners, especially the ones which have bad pool luck – which is when the actual time it takes to find the block is longer than the expected time.
Also, it is important to note that PPS pools do not pay the transaction fees. This caused users to stop using PPS pools and mine at one of the other pools instead.
FPPS (Full Pay-Per-Share) and PPS+ (Pay-Per-Share Plus)
They are almost the same as PPS pools except they also pay the transaction fees to users as well. The algorithm for splitting transaction fees among miners is usually not stated publicly, but it often involves calculating the rewards based on the number of shares a miner submitted to the pool for that block.
PPLNS (Pay-Per-Last N Shares)
Similar to the PPS method, but pays out the shares only when the block is found. This can be risky for miners, given the fact that the pool may never find a block – especially if it has low luck. Some pools have gone for months without finding a single block. You also run the risk of losing all of your shares (and your rights to a payout) if you disconnect from the pool before a block is found. This method is not recommended for smaller pools.
A variant to this model is the PPLNS+ model which also pays transaction fees along with the shares whenever a block is found. However, this model is very rare.
Shutdown Process for users in China
If you live in China, please make sure that this pool is not running a shutdown process for users in China before you start working with the pools listed below. For example, f2pool has started this process:
f2pool will shut down operations in mainland China by the end of 2021. Due to the recent development in local regulation, f2pool has previously ceased providing mining pool services in mainland China. We plan to complete the shutdown process for users in China, excluding Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, by 2021-12-31 16:00 UTC. If we detect a user is from mainland China, the account will become inaccessible to the mining pool services within 14 days. Also, f2pool has previously ceased services in Burundi, Central African Republic, Congo, Cuba, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Lebanon, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.
Source: f2pool
Ethermine
If we want to introduce the most popular Ethereum mining pool, Ethermine will be one of these choices. Ethereum is based in Austria and this pool with 27% of the network hash rate power, is the largest pool in the Ethereum network. Also, having a 1% fee is one of the best choices for people who are afraid to pay a fee to the pools. You can mine the following cryptocurrencies in Ethermine:
- Ethereum
- Ethereum Classic
- Beam
- Zcash
- Ravencoin
- ….
Ethermine Pool Servers
The pool’s servers are located in the United States, China, Russia, Europe, and Australia. Ethermine currently has about 345,307 active miners. You can also specify the minimum payment threshold in this pool (0.05-10) and you should note that this pool has a PPLNS payout scheme.
Advantages
- Ability to manually set the minimum payment threshold
- PPLNS payout scheme
- Excellent security
- Excellent support
- Hash reporting
F2Pool
F2Pool was launched in 2013 in Beijing as a Chinese mining pool. This pool provides PPS and PPS + payout schemes to its users and has 18% of the network hash rate power. In addition to daily payouts, it also offers a variety of languages including English, Chinese, and Spanish. But this is not the end of F2Pool features and this Chinese mining pool offers a mobile app for Android and iOS users to create a better user interface. In addition to 40 other cryptocurrencies, these are the main ones you can mine at F2Pool:
- Ethereum
- Bitcoin
- Monero
- Litecoin
- Bitcoin SV
- Bitcoin Cash
Advantages
- Supports 40+ digital currencies
- Multi-language support
- Daily payments
- Extraordinary security
- Live chat
We do not particularly recommend this pool because you run the risk of being blocked on this pool if they decide to stop services to your region – as you can see in their notice above, they have already stopped serving a number of countries.
Sparkpool
Sparkpool, originally known as Ethfans, has 16% of the network hash rate power. This pool has a PPLNS payout scheme and a minimum payout of 0.1 ETH and receives only a 1% fee. Sparkpool has used several security features to increase the security of its users It has also become one of the leading Ethereum mining pools with transparency and availability in most parts of the world.
Advantages
- It is one of the leading pools in the world
- 24-hour support
- Excellent security
- Low fee
Disadvantages
- Available in English and Chinese only
Nanopool
Nanopool has 12% of the network hash rate power and has a PPLNS payout scheme. Also, this pool has a 1% fee and with a simple and easy user interface, it is a good option for beginners. Nanopool helps you choose the right hardware for Ethereum mining and it has good guides for its users. Here are some of the cryptocurrencies you can mine at Nanopool:
- ETH (Payouts 0.05 – 20 ETH)
- ETC (Payouts 0.1 – 100 ETC)
- ZEC (Payouts 0.01 – 10 ZEC)
- XMR (Payouts 0.11 – 10 XMR)
- RVN (Payouts 50 – 50000 RVN)
- ERGO (Payouts 1 – 500 ERGO)
- CFX (Payouts 1 – 100 CFX)
Nanopool does not offer Bitcoin mining services to its users, but it is very popular as a multi-currency mining pool. Also, Nanopool can run on Windows and Linux operating systems. It has a mobile app for iOS and Android.
Advantages
- Multi-currency mining pool
- Excellent security
- Pool setup takes several minutes
- Low transaction fees
- Mobile app for iOS and Android
Disadvantages
- Occasionally has server issues
Miningpoolhub
Miningpoolhub has been operating since 2014 and supports a wide range of cryptocurrencies and has 10% of the network hash rate power. This pool is known as multi-pool mining which is registered in the state of Arizona in the USA. You can mine the following cryptocurrencies in Miningpoolhub:
- Auroracoin
- Ethereum
- Bitcoin
- Bitcoin-Cash
- Bitcoin Gold
- Dash
- Digibyte
- Electroneum
- Ethereum Classic
- Ethersocial
Miningpoolhub is known as a very transparent and safe pool and support is available 24/7. Also, the pool fee is 0.9% which is less than any other pool. This pool is one of the best environments for beginners and professionals with its easy user interface and excellent security.
Advantages
- Multi-pool mining
- Transparent and safe
- Easy user interface
- Automatic win switch
Conclusion
Ethereum mining can be a good option for people who are interested in Ethereum and one of the most important steps is to find an Ethereum mining pool that fits your needs. In this post, we have provided a list of the best Ethereum mining pools. Also if you are looking for the best Bitcoin mining pools, click here.