OperationApril 23, 2026Updated October 8, 2026Published by Cipheron

Choosing a pool – FPPS, PPLNS, solo and what the fee really costs

A pool's payout model decides who carries the luck, you or the pool. FPPS, PPS+, PPLNS and solo mining compared, with the calculation for the odds of finding a block of your own.

A pool gathers the computing power of many miners and shares out the blocks it finds. How it shares is set by the payout model. The models differ on one question: who carries the variance?

FPPS

You get a fixed amount for every piece of work you submit, regardless of whether the pool is currently finding blocks. It includes the block subsidy and an averaged share of the transaction fees.

Variance: carried by the pool. Your revenue can be planned day by day.
Fee: the highest, typically 2.5 to 4%. Braiins Pool states 2.5%, F2Pool 4%.

PPS+

The block subsidy is paid at a fixed rate per piece of work, as with FPPS. The transaction fees are only distributed when the pool actually finds blocks.

Variance: low, only in the fee share.
Fee: similar to FPPS. ViaBTC charges 4% on the subsidy and 2% on the fee share.

PPLNS

Payment is only made when the pool finds a block. It is distributed according to the work submitted in a time window before that.

Variance: carried by you. An unlucky day brings less, a lucky day more. Over months it evens out.
Fee: the lowest, typically 0.5 to 2%. F2Pool and ViaBTC state 2%, the small KanoPool 0.5%.

Solo

You mine alone for an entire block. If your unit finds it, the whole reward is yours, less a small fee if you work through a solo pool: 2% at solo.ckpool.org, 0.5% at Braiins Solo. Otherwise you get nothing.

How often this happens on average:

Expected blocks per day = 144 × your hashrate ÷ network hashrate

A worked example with an assumed network hashrate of 1,000 EH/s (at the end of September 2026 the 30-day average was 948 EH/s according to Hashrate Index): with 1 PH/s, that is about two current hydro units, you find a block every 19 years on average. With 100 PH/s, every 69 days.

Solo only pays off as a business model once you can expect several blocks a year on average and can get through months without income. Below that it is a lottery ticket.

What the fee really costs

The fee comes off the revenue, not the profit. If 20% of the revenue is left to you after electricity, one percentage point more in pool fees costs 5% of your profit. The tighter your margin, the more weight the fee carries.

The premium of FPPS over PPLNS is the price of predictability. If you pay electricity bills monthly and have little in reserve, you are right to buy it. If you can live with variance, you save it.

What else to look out for

Minimum payout: if it is high, a small operator waits a long time for their money.
Server location: a server in your region lowers the share of work submitted too late.
Backup pool: always enter a second pool. Otherwise, if the first one fails, the miner works for nothing.
Transparency: a pool should show the blocks it has found and its hashrate openly.

In short

FPPS for predictable income, PPLNS for the lowest fee while carrying the variance yourself, solo only with a great deal of hashrate or as a deliberate lottery ticket.

Sources

As of October 2026. Pools change their fees; check them on the pool's website before you sign up. The worked examples are not a promise of revenue.