Knowledge base
Learn Bitcoin mining.
Plain-language guides, live network data and tools. From what a hash is to whether mining pays today. Written and kept up to date by the team behind the CloudMineCrypto app.
How big is your miner?
Live estimateHashrate
270 TH/s
Antminer S21 XP, 270 TH/s
Share of the network
1 in 2.7 million
of all Bitcoin mining power
Est. per day
0.00017 BTC
≈ $13.70, before any costs
The scale is logarithmic: each step right is ten times more power. Read: Bitcoin mining machines →
Start here · 16 min read
Bitcoin mining: the complete guide
Everything from first principles, with an in-browser miner you can run and today’s profitability numbers.
- What mining is
- How it works
- Mine a block (interactive)
- Proof of work
- Halving
- Difficulty
- Hashrate
- Hardware
- Pools
- Profitability (live)
- Cloud mining & scams
- Glossary
Mining basics
How to mine Bitcoin
Three ways to start, from buying an ASIC to trying a free mining app.
Free Bitcoin mining
What “free” can and can’t mean, and how to try mining at no cost.
What is an ASIC miner?
What a mining machine is, how it works and what it costs to run.
Bitcoin mining rigs
What a mining rig is and what running one involves.
Bitcoin mining hardware compared
21 current miners side by side. Sort by what matters to you, at your power price.
Solo mining and the Bitaxe
Your real odds of finding a block alone, from a home device to a farm.
What is a Bitaxe?
The open-source home miner, its models, and your live odds of finding a block.
NerdMiner
The tiny lottery miner, and why it is for learning, not earning.
Antminer S19 family
Every S19 model's specs, and whether one still covers its power after the halving.
Avalon Nano 3S
Canaan's heater that mines: specs, heat, noise and your live solo odds.
Antminer S21 family
Specs of every S21 model, and what one costs to run at your power price.
Mining at home
Heat, noise and wiring, and what a miner does to your power bill.
Mining farms and hosting
From one machine to the whole network, and what hosting covers.
How Bitcoin mining works
What is crypto mining?
Proof of work vs stake, and which coins CPUs, GPUs and ASICs still mine.
GPU mining
What graphics cards can still mine after the Merge, and what they cost to run.
Monero mining
RandomX, CPU hashrates, P2Pool, and how to avoid cryptojacking.
Litecoin and Dogecoin mining
Scrypt, merged mining, the Antminer L7 to L11, and power cost at your price.
How many bitcoins are left?
A live supply counter, the 21 million cap and the last bitcoin around 2140.
How does Bitcoin mining work?
Six steps, shown on one real block you can step through.
Proof of work
Hash a block yourself: SHA-256, the nonce and the target.
What is hashrate?
From H/s to ZH/s, and what the live network number means.
Mining difficulty
How the network keeps blocks at ten minutes, and the next adjustment live.
The Bitcoin halving
Live countdown to the next halving, and what it changes.
Mining pools
Why miners pool, and PPS vs FPPS vs PPLNS in a simulator.
The Bitcoin block reward
3.125 BTC plus fees, with the latest block live.
Bitcoin fees and the mempool
Live sat/vB rates, what a transaction costs, and stuck transactions.
Bitcoin mining and energy
A live power estimate, and a balanced look at the criticism.
Bitcoin mining glossary
Every term, defined in one sentence.
Is it worth it?
What is hashprice?
What a unit of hashrate earns a day, live, with its history and formula.
The hashpower market
Daily hashpower rental prices against hashprice, from our open data.
Cost to mine one bitcoin
The electricity bill per BTC for any machine and power price, live.
Is Bitcoin mining profitable?
A live map of power price against machine efficiency.
How long to mine 1 bitcoin?
From a phone to a farm, with live numbers.
Cloud mining, honestly
What it is, why most offers are scams, and how to check one.
Can you mine Bitcoin on a PC?
Speed-test your own computer against an ASIC and the live network.
Can you mine Bitcoin on a phone?
Benchmark your own phone against the network.
How to earn free bitcoin
Every honest way to get small amounts, and what never works.
Wallets and payments
Tools and calculators
Bitcoin mining profit calculator
Revenue vs electricity for any machine, with break-even power price.
Hashrate converter
H/s ↔ TH/s ↔ EH/s and everything between.
Bitcoin unit converter
BTC, mBTC, bits and satoshis.
BTC ↔ USD
Convert bitcoin to dollars and back.
Satoshi to USD
Sats to dollars and back, at today's price.
Open data
Daily hashprice and hashpower-market data in JSON and CSV, free to reuse (CC BY 4.0).
Using the CloudMineCrypto app
Is CloudMineCrypto legit?
The company, the store ratings and how to check them yourself.
Mining plans
Free, rewarded and paid plans with live hashrates.
Withdrawals
Networks, live minimums and fees, and how long each takes.
Invite friends
How invites work. Single-tier, and your friend keeps everything.
Help and FAQ
Short answers to the questions people ask most.
How CloudMineCrypto works
What the app is, and what a mining plan is and isn’t.
How much Bitcoin can you mine?
The formula behind every estimate, with live examples in BTC.
Reward rules
Plans, boosts, check-ins and limits. The fine print, in plain words.
Earn Bitcoin rewards by watching ads
How rewarded ads add 24-hour plans.
Earn Bitcoin rewards by playing games
How playtime rewards add plans.
Earn Bitcoin rewards by completing offers
How partner offers add plans.
How to withdraw your bitcoin
Lightning, on-chain and BEP-20: live minimums, fees and wallet tutorials.
Balance looks different after logging in?
Why it happens and how to fix it.
Our editorial standards
Money topics deserve care. Here is how we write these guides.
- Primary sources first. Protocol facts are checked against the Bitcoin whitepaper and developer documentation, and each guide lists its sources.
- Live numbers, labelled. Network hashrate, block reward and prices come from our API, refresh hourly, and say so where they appear.
- No promises. We never present mining, or our app, as a way to guaranteed income. Our app is not an investment product.
- We disclose our interest. We make a mining rewards app, and say so wherever it’s relevant.
- Corrections. Found a mistake? Write to [email protected] and we’ll fix it and update the date.
Learn by doing.
Claim a free plan and watch your estimated BTC tick up.