Solo vs Pool Mining for Small Miners - Which Should You Choose?
If you're running a home miner - a Bitaxe, a Nano 3S, or something in that range - you're going to face the solo vs pool question. I've run both. My Bitaxe Gamma currently solo mines Bitcoin on my own Umbrel node, while I've pool-mined with everything else. Here's the honest breakdown.
What pool mining actually is
Pool mining means you point your miner at a shared pool server along with thousands of other miners. Together, the pool finds Bitcoin blocks much more frequently than any individual miner could. When a block is found, the pool distributes the reward proportionally to each miner based on their contributed hashrate (shares).
Pool mining gives you small, predictable payouts - typically measured in small fractions of a Bitcoin per month for a home miner. You're essentially smoothing out the variance. Instead of waiting years for a lottery win, you get a trickle of consistent earnings.
What solo mining actually is
Solo mining means you point your miner directly at the Bitcoin network (usually through your own node or a solo pool service). You compete against every other miner in the world to be the one who finds the next block. If you find it, you keep the full block reward - currently 3.125 BTC plus transaction fees.
If you don't find it - and at small hashrates, the statistical expectation is that you won't find one for centuries - you earn nothing. This is true variance: lottery-level risk with lottery-level reward.
The math is the same either way. Over infinite time and trials, pool mining and solo mining produce the same expected value. What differs is variance. Pool = small guaranteed drip. Solo = potentially nothing forever, or potentially millions of dollars tomorrow. Same expected value, radically different experience.
Solo vs pool at small hashrates - the real comparison
Solo Mining
- Expected time at 1.2 TH/s: tens of thousands of years
- Expected time at 97 TH/s: hundreds of years
- Reward if you find a block: full 3.125 BTC (~$300k+)
- Monthly income: $0 (almost certainly)
- Best for: Bitaxe-class miners, hobby / lottery angle
- Can run on your own node - no third party needed
- Most educational - you're directly participating in consensus
Pool Mining
- Payouts arrive weekly or monthly, proportional to hashrate
- 1.2 TH/s earns: cents per month
- 97 TH/s earns: maybe $20-30/month (price dependent)
- Pool fees: typically 0-2% of earnings
- Good for: higher hashrate setups where income matters
- Requires trust in pool operator not to steal funds
- Smoothest path to consistent (if small) returns
How I actually run my setup
My Bitaxe Gamma is solo mining via my personal Umbrel node. At 1.2 TH/s, the expected time to find a block is somewhere around 50,000+ years. I know this. I've done the math with my own calculator. I still run it solo.
Why? Because the cost is $1.80/month. At that price, pool payouts would be cents. Literally cents per month. The expected value is identical but the experience is completely different - and if I'm paying for a hobby, I'd rather have the lottery-ticket version of that hobby than a penny every few weeks.
When I ran the Nano 3S's (24 TH/s total at peak) and the Avalon Q (90 TH/s), I pool-mined those. At that scale, consistent payouts made more sense - and the electric costs were already putting me in the red, so at least pool mining was recovering some of that cost.
The luck factor - it does happen
People with Bitaxe miners have found Bitcoin blocks in solo mining. It's rare. It's improbable. It has happened. This is exactly how probability works - very unlikely events occasionally occur. Someone wins the lottery every week even though your odds of winning are negligible.
Use the solo mining calculator to see your actual odds at your hashrate. Plug in your numbers. Then decide if those odds, at your electricity cost, are worth the experience of solo mining. For a Bitaxe at $1.80/month, I think yes. For a full ASIC farm at residential rates, I'd pool mine and try to recoup some electricity cost.
Setting up a personal solo mining node
If you decide to go the solo route, running your own node is straightforward with Umbrel OS:
Install Umbrel OS on any mini PC or Raspberry Pi with a decent SSD. From the Umbrel app store, install the Bitcoin Node app (let it sync - this takes a few days the first time) and the Public Pool app. Public Pool creates a local solo mining pool that your miner can connect to via the standard Stratum protocol. Configure your miner to point to your Umbrel's IP on port 3333. You're now solo mining directly on the Bitcoin network with full custody of any block reward.
Alternatively: You can use public solo pools like CKPool Solo that let you solo mine without running your own node. They take a small fee (usually 2%) if you find a block, but you avoid the hardware and sync requirements. I prefer running my own node for the educational value and full sovereignty, but either approach works.
The recommendation
If you're running a Bitaxe or similar sub-5 TH/s device, solo mine it. The pool payouts at that hashrate are so small they're not meaningful, and solo mining at that cost is the most interesting version of the hobby. Set it up on your own node if you can - it's a great excuse to learn about Bitcoin infrastructure.
If you're running 20+ TH/s and the electricity costs are real, pool mine. The difference in expected value is zero, but consistent payouts help you track and offset your actual power costs rather than getting $0 every month and not knowing if your setup is even working.
And use the calculator. Always use the calculator before making decisions about either approach.
Running a personal solo node setup? I'm always happy to compare notes - info@homeminertools.com.