How much does it cost to mine one bitcoin?
Here’s today’s electricity bill for one bitcoin with an Antminer S21 XP, a current 13.5 J/TH machine, at three power prices:
$24,543
at 4¢ per kWh
live, electricity only
$49,087
at 8¢ per kWh
live, electricity only
$73,630
at 12¢ per kWh
live, electricity only
$85,991
1 BTC today
live, updated hourly
Big miners chase power at a few cents per kWh because of these numbers. The same machine on a household tariff can spend more on electricity than the coin is worth, and an older one gets there sooner. Try your own numbers in the calculator above.
How is the cost of mining a bitcoin worked out?
A machine’s daily output comes from its share of the network, and its daily bill from its power draw. Divide the bill by the output and the machine’s size cancels out:
Today’s hashprice is 0.0000005280BTC per TH/s per day (live), so a 13.5 J/TH machine needs about 613,585 kWh for one bitcoin. The hashprice guide explains where that figure comes from and how it has moved.
Definition · Break-even power price
The electricity price at which the power used to mine one bitcoin costs exactly one bitcoin. Below it the machine mines more than its electricity costs, before any other cost. It equals BTC price × hashprice ÷ (J/TH × 0.024).
How does the electricity price change the cost?
In a straight line. Double the power price and the cost per coin doubles. What sets the slope is efficiency, so each machine gets its own line, and the green dashed line is what one bitcoin sells for today:
Electricity per bitcoin, by power price
Hover or drag across the chart
electricity price per kWh
At 8¢ per kWh, the electricity for 1 BTC costs:
- S19j Pro$107,264
- S21$63,631
- S21 XP$49,087
- S23 XP Hyd$32,361
Where a line crosses the green one is that machine’s break-even power price. The newest hydro-cooled machines can stay under the coin’s price at tariffs where a 2021 model is well over it. That gap is why miners replace hardware even when the old boxes still run.
What is the break-even electricity price for each machine?
| Machine | J/TH | At 5¢ | At 10¢ | Break-even |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S19j Pro | 29.5 | $67,040 | $134,080 | 6.4¢ |
| S21 | 17.5 | $39,769 | $79,539 | 10.8¢ |
| S21 XP | 13.5 | $30,679 | $61,358 | 14.0¢ |
| S21 XP Hyd | 12 | $27,270 | $54,541 | 15.8¢ |
| S23 XP Hyd | 8.9 | $20,226 | $40,451 | 21.3¢ |
| Avalon Q | 18.6 | $42,269 | $84,538 | 10.2¢ |
| Bitaxe Gamma | 15 | $34,088 | $68,176 | 12.6¢ |
Every figure here changes daily with the network hashrate and the BTC price. Specs and sources for each model are in the hardware comparison; the older Antminer S19 family has its own guide.
What does the cost include, and what does it leave out?
In the figure
- Electricity at your price per kWh
- Today’s network hashrate (difficulty)
- Today’s average block reward, fees included
- The machine’s rated power and hashrate
Not in the figure
- The machine itself, and replacing it
- Hosting, cooling and building costs
- Pool fees
- Downtime, repairs and machines running below spec
- Future difficulty rises and halvings
That’s why published “cost to mine a bitcoin” numbers disagree so much. Some are cash costs like this one. Others are all-in, adding the hardware spread over its life, staff and overheads, which can be far higher. Pools charge a fee on what you mine; the Bitcoin Wiki’s pool reward FAQ explains how pools pay out.
What does the halving do to the cost of mining a bitcoin?
It roughly doubles it, overnight. At block 1,050,000, expected in 2028, the new bitcoin per block drops from 3.125 to 1.5625 BTC. The machines burn the same power for half the new coins. Fees don’t halve, which keeps the jump just under 2×:
$36,815
per BTC today
13.5 J/TH at 6¢, live
$73,165
right after the halving
if nothing else moves
1.99×
the electricity per coin
fees stay, subsidy halves
7.1¢
break-even after
was 14.0¢
Something always moves, though. If machines switch off, difficulty falls and each survivor mines more. If the price rises, the line in the chart above lifts. Nobody can say which, and we don’t make price predictions. The halving countdown tracks the date.
How much can you make mining bitcoin?
Flip the cost around and you get a daily figure: what a machine mines against what its power costs. At 8 cents per kWh and today’s network:
Per day, per machine, at 8¢ per kWh
The net figure has to pay for the machine before anything is left over, and it shrinks as the network grows. So the honest answer is “it depends, and on household power often nothing.” Is Bitcoin mining profitable? maps where it pays today.
Can you mine bitcoin without paying for electricity?
Yes. In the CloudMineCrypto app you mine bitcoin for free: the free plan, ads, games, offers and the daily check-in all add mining plans, and estimated rewards are credited while they run. There’s no machine and no power bill, and you withdraw to your own wallet over Lightning, Bitcoin on-chain or BNB Smart Chain. Paid plans are an optional boost for more speed and usually mine less than they cost.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to mine 1 bitcoin?
In electricity, about $36,815 with an efficient machine (Antminer S21 XP, 13.5 J/TH) at 6 cents per kWh, at today’s difficulty. An older Antminer S19j Pro at 12 cents needs about $160,896. The machine, hosting and pool fees come on top.
How much electricity does it take to mine one bitcoin?
About 613,585 kWh with a 13.5 J/TH machine at today’s difficulty, and about 1.34 million kWh with a 29.5 J/TH one. It rises as the network grows and doubles at a halving.
Is it cheaper to mine bitcoin or buy it?
It depends on your power price and machine. With a 13.5 J/TH machine, the electricity for one bitcoin matches today’s price at about 14.0 cents per kWh. Above that the power alone costs more than the coin, before you pay for the machine.
Does the cost to mine a bitcoin include the mining machine?
Not on this page. It’s the electricity only, which is the cost that scales with every coin. The machine, hosting, cooling, repairs, pool fees and downtime all add to it, so the full cost per coin is higher.
How long does it take to mine one bitcoin?
With one Antminer S21 XP in a pool, about 19.2 years at today’s difficulty. A thousand of them would take about 7 days.
What happens to the cost after the halving?
It roughly doubles. The subsidy per block halves in 2028 while the power bill stays the same, so each bitcoin takes about 1.99 times as much electricity, if nothing else changes.
How much can you make mining bitcoin?
It depends on your machine’s efficiency and your power price, and it changes daily with the network and the BTC price. On household tariffs many machines earn less than their electricity costs. The chart on this page shows today’s daily figures for a few machines, before the price of the hardware.
Sources and further reading
- Mining guide: solo and pool mining · Bitcoin developer documentation
- Difficulty · Bitcoin Wiki
- Controlled supply (block subsidy and halvings) · Bitcoin Wiki
- Mining pool reward FAQ (pool fees and payout methods) · Bitcoin Wiki
- Antminer S21 XP product page · Bitmain (manufacturer)
- Antminer S21 specifications · Bitmain support (manufacturer)
- Antminer S19j Pro specifications · Bitmain support (manufacturer)
- Antminer S23 XP Hyd product page · Bitmain (manufacturer)
Live figures on this page come from the CloudMineCrypto API or from the public blockchain data services named next to them, refresh on a schedule, and are labelled where they appear. This guide is educational and not financial advice. CloudMineCrypto is not an investment product; rewards in the app are estimates and aren’t guaranteed.
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