Solo Mining
Solo mining is mining without a pool: the asic looks for a block on its own and takes the whole reward if it gets lucky.
What solo mining is
In solo mode the miner works straight with a network node. Nobody splits your reward or takes a fee, but there is no cushion either: until a block is found, there are no payouts at all. Stock firmware supports this mode, and setup comes down to entering your own node address instead of a pool address.
The arithmetic here is merciless. An Antminer S21 at 200 TH/s in a network of about 950 EH/s holds roughly two ten millionths of the whole. At 144 blocks a day that comes to one block found on average once in ninety years. The phrase on average matters here: you might get lucky in the second week, or you might never get lucky at all.
There is a separate variety, the solo pool: you connect to a shared server but do not split the reward. Found a block, took it all, minus a small service fee. The odds are the same as in honest solo, only you do not have to run a node of your own.
Solo starts to make sense in two cases. The first is a deliberate lottery: the person understands they are buying a ticket, not income. The second is young networks with low hashrate, where one asic holds a noticeable share and blocks arrive in weeks rather than decades.
Quick reference table
| What it is | mining without a pool, the whole reward yours |
| What you need | your own network node or a solo pool |
| S21 on bitcoin | a block on average once in ninety years |
| Fee | none in honest solo, small at a solo pool |
| Who it suits | lottery players and young networks |
What to understand before you switch it on
Payouts in solo are not spread across the days. There are none at all until the first block. Electricity keeps dripping the whole time: 84 kWh a day on a 3.5 kW asic, about 11 euros at the Spanish rate. Work out how many months of that expense you are ready to pay with not one payout coming in.
A block reward in solo does not ripen at once: on bitcoin the coins become available after 100 confirmations, about seventeen hours. Pools pay out of their own funds earlier, which is why you never see that delay in a pool.
And an honest caveat: we do not advise solo mining for buyers of one or two asics. With a block expected in about ninety years this is gambling at a stake of roughly 340 euros a month, and it is worth going in with your eyes open.
Example of the odds
One asic at 200 TH/s against a network of about 950 EH/s: a share of roughly two ten millionths, a block expected in about ninety years. Ten such asics cut the wait to nine years, a hundred of them to about a year. That is exactly why solo turns up either at large sites or with people who are playing.
Related terms
Where to go next on the site
Hardware
- Antminer S21 tool
- ASIC Miner knowledge base
Coins
Questions and answers
Is solo mining better than a pool
Over a long distance the expected income is the same, minus the pool fee. The difference is in risk: a pool pays evenly, solo either everything or nothing.
Do you need your own node
For honest solo yes, and the node has to be yours and in sync. Solo pools spare you that hassle and keep the principle of find it, keep it all.
Which coins make solo realistic
The ones where the network is small and a single asic gives a noticeable share. On bitcoin with its hundreds of exahashes one asic has practically no chance.
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 .