DevFee
DevFee is the share of hashrate that custom firmware sends to its developer. On the firmware we work with it is 2.8 percent.
What DevFee is and how it works
You do not buy custom firmware with money: it is free to install, and the developer gets paid in work. For a small share of time the ASIC hashes not for your pool but for the developer's. That share is called DevFee.
It is counted from hashrate, not from income. At 2.8 percent an ASIC doing 100 TH/s gives the developer the equivalent of 2.8 TH/s, the rest goes to you. In return, autotuning and undervolting usually give back more than those percent: otherwise custom firmware would make no sense.
Checking DevFee is simple: hashrate on your pool should sit below the ASIC's own number by exactly the declared share, plus the usual estimation error of the pool. If the gap is steadily bigger than declared, that is a conversation with the developer or a reason to change firmware.
Honest firmware has no hidden charges: the share is declared, the developer's pool addresses are visible in the connection log. Firmware from a shady archive on a forum can take more than declared or declare nothing, and that is the main risk of installing from random sources.
The short version
| What it is | a hashrate share for the firmware developer |
| On our firmware | 2.8 percent |
| Counted from | hashrate, not money |
| How to verify | compare the pool's number with the ASIC's |
| Main risk | firmware from random sources |
How to check your firmware
Compare the daily average hashrate on the pool with the ASIC's number: the gap should match the declared DevFee.
Check the log for where the ASIC connects besides your pool: the developer's addresses are visible and should not be a surprise.
Count the benefit as a pair: the gain from tuning minus the DevFee. A positive difference is the answer to whether the firmware is worth it.
Install firmware from the developer's site or a trusted supplier, not from an archive in a chat.
An example in numbers
Stock, the ASIC did 100 TH/s at 3400 W. On custom firmware after tuning it holds 104 TH/s, 2.8 percent of that leaves as DevFee, and 101.1 stays with you. The result: more hashrate, the same watts, and the developer's share is already paid by that difference.
Related terms
Where to go next on the site
Software
- Software firmware
- HashCore Toolkit firmware
Hardware
- ASIC Miner knowledge base
Questions and answers
Is DevFee paid in money
No, only in work: for part of the time the ASIC hashes for the developer's pool. The firmware has no bills or subscriptions.
Why is the pool hashrate lower than the ASIC's
Part of the gap is DevFee, part is the pool's usual estimation error. Look at a day, not an hour: short windows lie in both directions.
Are there firmwares without DevFee
Stock ones. Custom firmware lives on DevFee, and a declared share is the honest model. What should worry you is not the share but its absence in someone else's code.
How the terms connect
Every link in the chain is clickable. Orange marks where you are now.
Looking for an ASIC miner
The catalog holds 212 models. You can compare them by hashrate and by joules per terahash, then plug your own rate into the calculator and see what stays in your pocket.
Page written and checked by Denys Klimchuk. Updated .