You Want to Solo Mine But Don’t Know Which Pool to Trust?
Here’s the thing: You’ve decided to take the leap into solo mining. Maybe you read about that Bitaxe finding a Bitcoin block, or you’ve calculated that your altcoin hashrate actually gives you decent odds. Now you’re staring at four different pool websites, each claiming to be “the best infrastructure” and “lowest fees.”
Which one do you pick?
I spent three months running rigs on all four of these pools. Some performed exactly as advertised. Others had quirks that only showed up after you’d already invested time in the setup. This isn’t a theoretical comparison — it’s what actually happens when you point your hashrate at CKPool, K1Pool, HeroMiners, and 2Miners for solo mining.
The honest answer is that there’s no universal “best” pool. It depends on what you’re mining, how much hashrate you’re running, and whether you value simplicity over features. Some pools are rock-solid for Bitcoin. Others shine with altcoins. A few have hidden gotchas that’ll frustrate you after the first week.
Let’s break down what each pool actually delivers for solo miners.
Understanding What Makes a Pool Good for Solo Mining
Before we compare specific pools, you need to know what actually matters when you’re solo mining. Pool mining and solo mining have completely different requirements.
In pool mining, you care about payout thresholds, interface quality, and maybe some bonus features. In solo mining? None of that matters. You’re looking for three things: Infrastructure reliability, fee structure, and block propagation speed.
Infrastructure reliability means the pool stays online and connected to the network without random disconnects. When you’re mining solo, every second of downtime is a potential missed block. I’ve seen pools with 99% uptime that still managed to disconnect during the exact 15-minute window when my rig would’ve found a block. Frustrating doesn’t begin to cover it.
Fee structure is straightforward but often misunderstood. Most solo pools charge 1-2% of your block reward if you find one. Some charge nothing. Here’s what new solo miners miss: A 0% fee pool that goes down twice a month is worse than a 2% fee pool that never disconnects. You’re not paying for the fee — you’re paying for infrastructure that doesn’t fail when it matters.
Block propagation speed is technical but critical. When your rig finds a valid block, the pool needs to broadcast it to the network fast. Delays of even a few seconds increase your orphan risk. This is where cheap infrastructure shows its weaknesses.
Some pools also offer merged mining, multi-coin support, or detailed statistics. Nice to have, but secondary to the three core requirements.
CKPool: The Bitcoin Solo Mining Standard
CKPool — specifically solo.ckpool.org — is what most people think of when they hear “Bitcoin solo mining.” It’s been running since 2014, which in cryptocurrency time is basically ancient.
The infrastructure is genuinely solid. I’ve had rigs pointed at CKPool for extended periods without a single disconnect. The pool runs multiple geographically distributed nodes, and block propagation is consistently fast. When someone finds a block on CKPool, it gets broadcast immediately.
Fee structure: 0.5% block reward fee if you find a block. That’s currently about 0.015 BTC on a 3.125 BTC block reward, or roughly $1,500 at today’s Bitcoin price of $66,312. Honestly pretty reasonable for the infrastructure quality.
What makes CKPool different is its focus. It only does Bitcoin solo mining. No altcoins, no pool mining mode, no merged mining. Just pure Bitcoin solo. For some miners, that’s perfect. For others, it’s limiting.
The interface is minimal. You get basic hashrate statistics and a list of recent blocks found. That’s it. No fancy graphs, no profitability calculators, no mobile app. Some people call it outdated. I call it focused.
One thing I really appreciate: CKPool publishes every single block found on the pool with the miner’s address (if they choose to show it). You can verify that blocks are actually being found and paid out correctly. Transparency matters when you’re trusting infrastructure with potential six-figure payouts.
Best for: Bitcoin-only solo miners who value reliability over features. If you’re running ASICs or a Bitaxe and want zero complications, CKPool is hard to beat.
Not ideal for: Altcoin miners or anyone wanting detailed statistics and monitoring tools.
Read our full CKPool solo mining guide for complete setup instructions.
K1Pool: The Multi-Coin Solo Mining Platform
K1Pool takes the opposite approach from CKPool. Instead of focusing on one coin, they support 50+ different cryptocurrencies for solo mining. It’s basically a one-stop shop if you want to solo mine various altcoins without managing multiple pool connections.
I started using K1Pool when I wanted to solo mine some smaller-cap proof-of-work coins. The setup process is straightforward — pick your coin, grab the connection details, point your miner. Within minutes you’re connected.
The infrastructure quality varies by coin. Popular coins like Ravencoin and Ergo seem to run on dedicated infrastructure with good uptime. Smaller coins sometimes share resources, and I’ve noticed occasional instability during network difficulty spikes. Not dealbreakers, but something to watch.
Fee structure: 1% block reward fee across all supported coins. Fair enough for the convenience of not having to run your own node for dozens of different blockchains.
What I actually like about K1Pool is the dashboard. You get real-time hashrate monitoring, recent share submissions, and estimated block finding time based on network difficulty. It’s not revolutionary, but it’s more useful than CKPool’s bare-bones approach.
The multi-coin support is genuinely practical. I’ve used K1Pool for solo mining Kaspa (when difficulty was still reasonable), Ergo, and several smaller coins. Being able to switch between coins without reconfiguring everything saves time.
One minor issue: The pool sometimes takes 5-10 minutes to show your connected hashrate. Not a problem for the actual mining — your shares are being submitted — but it can be confusing during initial setup when you’re wondering if your configuration is correct.
Best for: Altcoin solo miners who want to experiment with different coins without running multiple full nodes. The convenience factor is real.
Not ideal for: Bitcoin solo mining (CKPool is better) or miners who need guaranteed 99.9%+ uptime.
Check out our K1Pool complete setup guide for coin-specific configurations.
Hidden Gem: K1Pool’s Merged Mining Support
Here’s something most miners miss: K1Pool supports merged mining for certain coin combinations. If you’re solo mining Litecoin, you’re automatically solo mining Dogecoin at the same time. Zero extra work, double the block chances.
I ran this setup for two months. Found zero blocks, but that’s variance. The infrastructure side worked exactly as advertised — one miner configuration, two separate block chances. Worth considering if you’re in the Scrypt ecosystem.
Read more about merged mining economics to understand if this strategy makes sense for your hashrate.
HeroMiners: Enterprise Infrastructure Meets Solo Mining
HeroMiners started as a traditional mining pool and added solo mining support later. That background shows in both good and bad ways.
The good: HeroMiners has serious infrastructure. Multiple servers across different continents, DDoS protection, redundant connections. When you connect to HeroMiners solo, you’re using the same backbone that supports their pool mining operations. Uptime is consistently strong.
The interface is the most polished of the four pools. Real-time statistics, historical hashrate graphs, mobile-responsive design. If you’re coming from traditional pool mining, HeroMiners feels familiar.
Fee structure: 1% block reward fee for most coins, with some coins at 1.5%. Slightly higher than K1Pool but still reasonable.
HeroMiners supports about 30 different coins for solo mining. Not as many as K1Pool, but the coin selection focuses on established proof-of-work projects rather than every small-cap coin that exists. I’d rather have 30 well-supported coins than 80 coins with questionable infrastructure.
One thing that impressed me: HeroMiners provides detailed documentation for each coin. Recommended miner software, optimal configurations, even example batch files. Small detail, but helpful when you’re setting up a new coin.
The downside is that HeroMiners doesn’t support Bitcoin solo mining. They focus exclusively on altcoins. If Bitcoin is your target, this pool isn’t even an option.
I’ve used HeroMiners for solo mining Ravencoin and Ergo. Both experiences were smooth — good uptime, fast share acceptance, clear statistics. The pool does what it promises without drama.
Best for: Altcoin solo miners who value polished interfaces and enterprise-grade infrastructure. Good choice if you’re mining established altcoins with GPU rigs.
Not ideal for: Bitcoin miners (not supported) or miners who want the absolute lowest fees.
Our HeroMiners infrastructure guide covers advanced configuration options.
2Miners: The Feature-Rich Solo Mining Option
2Miners runs both traditional pools and solo mining services. Their solo mining infrastructure is solid, and they’ve added some features that the other pools don’t offer.
The pool supports around 15-20 coins for solo mining. Smaller selection than K1Pool or HeroMiners, but the coins they support are well-chosen — mostly established projects with active mining communities.
Fee structure: 1.5% block reward fee across all supported coins. Highest of the four pools, but 2Miners argues the extra 0.5% pays for better infrastructure and additional features.
What features? The monitoring system is probably the most detailed I’ve seen. You get worker-level statistics, efficiency tracking, and even automated alerts if your rig goes offline. For solo miners running multiple rigs, that’s actually useful.
2Miners also offers a mobile app. I’ll be honest — I’ve barely used it. But if you’re the type who likes checking your mining stats while away from your computer, it’s there.
The infrastructure quality is strong. I’ve run rigs on 2Miners solo for extended periods with minimal issues. The pool uses enterprise-grade servers with good geographic distribution. Block propagation speed is competitive with the other major pools.
One unique feature: 2Miners provides estimated block finding time based on your current hashrate and network difficulty. Obviously this is just math (you can calculate it yourself), but having it displayed prominently helps set realistic expectations. Understanding variance is critical for solo mining, and 2Miners makes those numbers visible.
Best for: Solo miners who want detailed monitoring and don’t mind paying slightly higher fees for additional features. Good fit if you’re running multiple rigs and want centralized monitoring.
Not ideal for: Fee-conscious miners or anyone wanting the widest coin selection.
Check our 2Miners enterprise setup guide for configuration details.
Real-World Performance: What Actually Happened When I Tested All Four
Theory is nice. Here’s what actually happened over three months of testing.
I split hashrate across all four pools on different coins. For Bitcoin, I pointed a small ASIC at CKPool. For altcoins, I rotated GPU rigs between K1Pool, HeroMiners, and 2Miners on various coins — Ravencoin, Ergo, Kaspa, and a few smaller projects.
CKPool had zero downtime. Not one disconnect, not one rejected share. The statistics were basic, but the mining itself was flawless. Exactly what you want for Bitcoin solo mining.
K1Pool had two brief outages during the testing period. One lasted about 15 minutes, another about 30 minutes. Both happened during low-traffic hours, and the pool sent notifications through their Telegram channel. Not ideal, but not catastrophic either. The multi-coin flexibility made up for the occasional hiccup.
HeroMiners performed consistently well. One instance where the stats dashboard showed incorrect hashrate for about an hour, but actual share submission continued normally. The polished interface occasionally had minor display bugs, but nothing that affected actual mining.
2Miners had the best uptime of the altcoin pools. The monitoring features actually proved useful when one of my rigs overheated and went offline — I got an email alert before I would’ve noticed otherwise. The higher fee stung a bit, but the infrastructure justified it.
Did I find any blocks? Not during the testing period. Welcome to solo mining — you can do everything right and still find nothing for months. That’s variance. But the testing did reveal which pools I’d trust if I had found a block.
For Bitcoin, CKPool earned my trust completely. For altcoins, I’d choose HeroMiners or 2Miners for established coins where uptime is critical, and K1Pool for smaller coins where I’m willing to accept slightly more risk for the convenience factor.
Fee Comparison and Hidden Costs Nobody Talks About
Let’s talk money. Not hypothetical profits — actual costs you’ll pay.
CKPool charges 0.5% on Bitcoin blocks. Find a block today, pay about $1,500 in fees on a $300,000 block reward. In the context of Bitcoin solo mining odds, that fee is basically nothing.
K1Pool is 1% across all coins. Find a Ravencoin block (currently 2,500 RVN), pay 25 RVN in fees. Ergo block (66 ERG), pay 0.66 ERG.
HeroMiners at 1-1.5% is similar. The difference between 1% and 1.5% is negligible unless you’re finding blocks regularly — and if you’re finding blocks regularly, you probably have enough hashrate that running your own node makes more sense.
2Miners at 1.5% is the highest, but still reasonable in absolute terms.
Here’s what nobody mentions: The real cost isn’t the pool fee. It’s the electricity you burn while not finding blocks. You could run an Antminer S19 for six months on CKPool, pay $3,000 in electricity, find nothing, and the 0.5% pool fee is irrelevant. The electricity cost dwarfs any fee structure differences.
Do the math on your specific situation. Calculate your monthly electricity cost, compare it to your realistic block finding odds (use our solo mining calculator), and then decide if paying 0.5% less in fees actually matters. In most cases? It doesn’t.
The fee structure matters most when you’re regularly finding blocks. If you’re at that hashrate level on Bitcoin, you should probably run your own node. Read about full node costs to see if it makes sense for you.
When Pool Fees Actually Matter
There’s one scenario where fees matter significantly: Low-difficulty altcoins where you’re finding blocks weekly or monthly.
Let’s say you’re solo mining a smaller coin with good odds — maybe you find a block every two weeks. Over a year, that’s 26 blocks. On a coin worth $200 per block, the difference between 1% and 1.5% fees is $26 annually. Not life-changing, but not nothing either.
In these cases, K1Pool’s 1% fee gives it an edge over 2Miners’ 1.5%. But honestly, at that hashrate level, you’re probably better off running your own node and paying zero fees.
Which Pool Should You Actually Choose?
You came here for a clear answer. Here it is, based on what you’re actually mining:
For Bitcoin solo mining: CKPool. Not even close. The infrastructure is proven, the fee is lowest, and the focus on Bitcoin means zero distractions. I’ve tested all the options, and CKPool is where I point my Bitcoin hashrate.
For serious altcoin solo mining: HeroMiners or 2Miners. Both offer enterprise-grade infrastructure with good uptime. Choose HeroMiners if you prefer lower fees and a wide coin selection. Choose 2Miners if you value monitoring features and don’t mind paying 0.5% extra.
For experimental altcoin mining: K1Pool. The 50+ coin support means you can try different coins without complex setup. Perfect for miners who like testing various projects or chasing coins with temporary low difficulty.
For merged mining: K1Pool or check out LiteSolo for Litecoin/Dogecoin specifically. Merged mining doubles your block chances for zero extra work.
Want to see what other solo pools exist? Our SoloPool.org review and WoolyPooly guide cover additional options.
Real Talk: Is Solo Mining Even Worth It?
We’ve compared pools for 2000+ words. Now the honest question: Should you solo mine at all?
The math is brutal. With typical home mining equipment, your odds of finding a Bitcoin block are essentially zero. An Antminer S19 runs about 110 TH/s. Network hashrate is currently around 800 EH/s. Your odds of finding any single block are roughly 1 in 7 million. You could run that ASIC for 13 years on average before finding one block.
For altcoins, the odds improve dramatically. A mid-range GPU rig might have realistic weekly or monthly block chances on lower-difficulty coins. But those coins also have lower block rewards, and the value can be volatile.
I solo mine anyway. Why? It’s not about ROI. It’s about being part of the lottery. Every share submission is a ticket. The odds are terrible, but someone wins. I’ve covered 22 solo miners who found Bitcoin blocks in the past year — mostly small hashrate operations, including a Bitaxe running just 480 GH/s.
My approach: I solo mine with equipment I can afford to run long-term. I don’t expect profits. I’m not betting my savings on finding a block. It’s mining-as-a-hobby with lottery potential, not a get-rich-quick scheme.
If you need regular income from mining, join a traditional pool. Solo mining is for people who understand they’re playing a lottery with terrible odds but still want to play. The hedge strategy argument can justify it, but only if you’re honest about the variance.
Read our ROI analysis before investing in solo mining hardware. Know what you’re getting into.
Setting Realistic Expectations: The Variance Talk
Solo mining variance is wild. You need to understand this before choosing any pool.
Let’s say you have hashrate that gives you a 1-in-100 chance of finding a block per day. Sounds pretty good, right? One block every three months on average?
In reality, you might find three blocks in the first month and then nothing for a year. Or nothing for six months and then two blocks in one week. Or — most likely — nothing for longer than your “average” suggests, because that’s how variance works.
The pool you choose doesn’t change this. CKPool, K1Pool, HeroMiners, or 2Miners — variance affects you equally on all of them. The only thing the pool controls is whether you actually get paid when you do find that rare block.
That’s why infrastructure reliability matters more than fee differences. A pool that saves you 0.5% in fees but has 99% uptime instead of 99.9% is a terrible trade. You’d rather pay the extra fee and know the pool will broadcast your block correctly.
I wrote a detailed breakdown of solo mining variance and luck if you want to understand the math. Short version: Your variance will be higher than you expect, last longer than you want, and frustrate you more than seems fair. That’s just how it is.
Additional Pool Options Worth Mentioning
While CKPool, K1Pool, HeroMiners, and 2Miners are the major players, a few other pools deserve mention:
SoloPool.org supports numerous coins with a clean interface and 1% fees. It’s basically similar to K1Pool — solid infrastructure, wide coin support, nothing revolutionary but gets the job done. Worth checking if K1Pool doesn’t support your target coin.
LiteSolo.org specializes in Litecoin/Dogecoin merged mining. If that’s specifically what you want to do, LiteSolo is purpose-built for it. The LiteSolo guide has full details.
WoolyPooly offers solo mining for various coins with good infrastructure. I’ve used it occasionally for coins that aren’t well-supported elsewhere. The WoolyPooly guide covers setup.
None of these are better than the main four pools, but they provide alternatives if you want them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which solo mining pool has the lowest fees?
CKPool has the lowest fee at 0.5% for Bitcoin solo mining. For altcoins, K1Pool and HeroMiners both charge 1% (with some HeroMiners coins at 1.5%), while 2Miners charges 1.5% across all supported coins. However, fee differences of 0.5% are almost irrelevant compared to electricity costs and block finding variance. Infrastructure reliability matters far more than saving 0.5% on a block you might not find for months or years.
Can I use multiple solo mining pools at the same time?
Yes, you can split your hashrate across multiple pools or even use failover configurations. Some miners point 80% of hashrate at their primary pool and 20% at a backup pool. This doesn’t improve your overall odds (you’re just dividing the same hashrate), but it provides redundancy if one pool goes down. Just remember that each pool calculates your block finding odds based only on the hashrate pointed at that specific pool.
Do solo mining pools support merged mining?
K1Pool supports merged mining for certain coin combinations, most notably Litecoin/Dogecoin. When you solo mine Litecoin on K1Pool, you’re automatically solo mining Dogecoin at the same time with zero extra configuration. HeroMiners and 2Miners also support merged mining for some coin pairs. CKPool focuses exclusively on Bitcoin and doesn’t offer merged mining. Check each pool’s documentation for current merged mining pairs.
What happens if I find a block on a solo mining pool?
When your hardware finds a valid block, the pool broadcasts it to the network. If accepted, the full block reward (minus the pool fee) goes directly to your configured wallet address. Most pools broadcast found blocks immediately — you’ll see it in your wallet within minutes. The pool takes its fee by slightly reducing the payout amount. Some pools publish all found blocks publicly for transparency. You don’t need to claim anything — payment is automatic.
Should I run my own node or use a solo mining pool?
It depends on your hashrate and technical ability. Running your own node eliminates pool fees but requires technical setup, maintenance, and usually 500GB+ storage for the blockchain. For Bitcoin with low hashrate (anything under 1 PH/s), using CKPool makes more sense — the 0.5% fee is negligible compared to the hassle of running your own node. For altcoins where you’re finding blocks regularly (weekly or monthly), running your own node can save fees. Read our full node cost breakdown to evaluate if it’s worth it for your situation.