Is Bitcoin mining profitable right now?
For some miners, yes. Mining pays when a machine earns more bitcoin per day than it costs to run. Revenue is the same for everyone per unit of hashrate. Costs aren’t, and that’s where the answer splits.
$0.0380
Hashprice, USD per TH/s per day
live estimate
0.0000004515BTC
Hashprice, BTC per TH/s per day
live estimate
$84,175
Bitcoin price
live, updated hourly
1003 EH/s
Network hashrate
live
An Antminer S21 XP (270 TH/s at 3,645 W, manufacturer-rated) would earn about $10.26 a day at today’s hashprice. Its power costs $4.37 a day at 5¢ per kWh and $13.12 at 15¢. That gap is the whole story.
What is hashprice?
Definition · Hashprice
What 1 TH/s of mining power is expected to earn in one day, in BTC or dollars. It’s the revenue side of every mining profit calculation.
Your share of the network’s hashrate is your expected share of its blocks. About 144 blocks are found a day, so that’s the whole pie. Multiply the BTC figure by the bitcoin price and you get hashprice in dollars. It’s the same formula our app uses for its reward estimates.
What decides whether mining is profitable?
Eight things. The first two are yours to choose, the next four are set by the market and the protocol, and the last two are easy to forget.
You choose
¢ per kWh
Electricity price
The biggest running cost. A machine uses power around the clock.
You choose
J/TH
Machine efficiency
Energy per trillion hashes. Lower means more of the revenue survives the power bill.
Market and protocol
BTC/USD
Bitcoin price
Your costs are in dollars or euros, your revenue is in BTC.
Market and protocol
EH/s
Network hashrate
When more machines join, your share of each block shrinks. Difficulty follows it.
Market and protocol
÷ 2
Halving
About every four years the new-coin subsidy per block is cut in half.
Market and protocol
%
Pool fees
Most miners join a pool for steady payouts, and the pool keeps a cut.
Easy to forget
$
Hardware cost
The machine has to be paid back out of the daily margin before you’re ahead.
Easy to forget
resale
Resale value
Used machines sell for less after each new generation and each halving.
Which lever matters most? Here’s one S21 XP on 7¢ power, where it nets $4.14 a day at today’s hashprice, and what happens when each input moves.
How much each lever moves one machine’s daily net
Bitcoin price
20% lower or higher
Network hashrate
20% higher or lower
The next halving
subsidy cut in half
Electricity price
20% dearer or cheaper
Machine efficiency
21.5 J/TH instead of 13.5
Pool fee
2% of revenue
The market levers swing revenue in both directions and you can’t control them. Electricity and efficiency are the only ones you pick, and you pick them once, when you choose where to mine and what to buy.
What electricity price does a miner need to break even?
Divide hashprice by the energy a machine uses per TH/s in a day and you get its break-even power price. Pay less and it earns more than its electricity. Pay more and it doesn’t.
Would this machine pay for itself?
Live · estimateYour price is under the break-even line, so this machine earns more than its power costs, before fees.
Earns per day
$10.26
Power per day
$8.75
Net per day
$1.51
Net per month
$45
Antminer S21 XP: 270 TH/s at 3,645 W mines about 0.00012190BTC a day right now.
Uses today’s live hashprice, updated hourly. Before pool fees, cooling, repairs and the price of the machine. Specs are manufacturer-rated. Not a forecast.
| Efficiency | Example | Today | After halving |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9.5 J/TH | Antminer S23 Hyd. | 16.7¢ | 8.4¢ |
| 13.5 J/TH | Antminer S21 XP | 11.7¢ | 5.9¢ |
| 17.5 J/TH | Antminer S21 | 9.0¢ | 4.6¢ |
| 21.5 J/TH | Antminer S19j XP | 7.4¢ | 3.7¢ |
| 28.2 J/TH | Fleet average* | 5.6¢ | 2.8¢ |
Machine size doesn’t change break-even. A bigger machine earns more and burns more in the same proportion. Try your own numbers in the Bitcoin mining profit calculator, or compare models in our guide to mining machines.
Will Bitcoin mining still be profitable after the halving?
Every 210,000 blocks the new-coin subsidy halves. It dropped to 3.125 BTC per block in April 2024, and the next cut, to 1.5625 BTC, is expected in 2028. Fees don’t halve, but today they’re a small part of the reward.
What a block pays, today and after the next halving
So on halving day a machine earns roughly half the BTC it did the day before, while its power bill stays the same. Machines near their break-even price get switched off. That lowers the network hashrate, which gives the rest a slightly bigger share. Historically the bitcoin price has also mattered a lot, but nobody can promise it rises. More on the schedule in the Bitcoin halving explained.
Why does the same machine earn less every year?
Because the network keeps growing. New, more efficient machines join, your share of each block shrinks, and the protocol raises the mining difficulty every 2,016 blocks to keep blocks about ten minutes apart. Add a halving and the decline gets steep.
BTC earned by the same machine, as a share of today
Illustration, not a forecast
After 1 year
80%
After 2 years
32%
After 4 years
21%
Hover or drag across the chart to read any month.
Counts BTC only, so it leaves the bitcoin price out. The halving month is estimated from 10-minute blocks and keeps today’s fee estimate. Real network growth has varied a lot from year to year.
That’s why miners plan machine purchases around how long the margin lasts, not around today’s figure. A price rise can offset it. A price drop makes it worse.
Who actually makes money mining Bitcoin?
Mostly industrial miners: companies with thousands of recent machines, long-term power contracts at a few cents per kWh, and sites built for cooling. Here’s what 100 TH/s earns and burns in a day at a few example set-ups.
100 TH/s for one day: revenue against electricity
4¢, 13.5 J/TH
7¢, 17.5 J/TH
15¢, 13.5 J/TH
15¢, 21.5 J/TH
Big miners also buy machines in bulk, sell heat or balance the grid, and can move to where power is cheapest. Cambridge’s 2025 industry survey found the average fleet running at about 28.2 J/TH, well behind the newest models, so even many professionals are squeezed after a halving. How farms work is covered in what a Bitcoin mining farm is.
Is mining Bitcoin at home worth it?
Usually not for the money. Plug your own tariff into this example and watch the power bill.
Plan your home rig
Live · estimateMachines
Net per month
−$150
Power draw
3.5 kW
Per month
2,520 kWh
Heat into the room
≈ 3.5 kW
Example machine: Antminer S21, manufacturer-rated. Uses today’s live hashprice, updated hourly, over 30 days. Before pool fees, the machine’s price and electrical work. Not a forecast.
When home mining can make sense
- You have very cheap or surplus power, like your own solar
- You use the heat, for example in winter
- You want to learn how mining works with real hardware
What usually gets in the way
- Household power usually costs more than break-even
- Air-cooled machines are loud: 76 dBA for the S21 XP, per Bitmain
- Most need a dedicated high-power circuit
- The machine has to earn back its price before you’re ahead
If you still want to try, how to start Bitcoin mining and what a mining rig needs walk through the set-up.
Can you mine bitcoin without the power bill?
Yes, with a mining app, and it skips the whole break-even question: with no machine and no electricity there’s nothing to pay back. With CloudMineCrypto you mine for free. Claim a free 8-hour plan, add more plans from ads, games, offers and daily check-ins, and your BTC balance grows while they run. No hardware, no noise, no power bill, and you withdraw to your own wallet, Lightning included, once you reach the minimum.
4.6 GH/s
Free plan hashrate
live
8 hours
Free plan length
claim again when it ends
0.0000000006930BTC
Per free plan
estimate, before boosts
$0
To start
no hardware or power bill
Mine for free
Free plan
4.6 GH/s for 8 h
Claim it, and claim it again when it ends.
Watch ads
7.4 GH/s for 24 h
Each rewarded ad adds another plan.
Play games
7.4 GH/s for 24 h
Game rewards add plans on top.
Complete offers
7.4 GH/s for 24 h
Partner offers add plans too.
Daily check-in
7.4 GH/s for 24 h
Come back each day for another plan.
Optional add-on
Paid plans, for more speed
Much more hashrate for longer. The price is shown before you confirm.
Hashrates live, updated hourly. Ads, games and offers are in the mobile apps; availability varies. Rewards are estimates and aren’t guaranteed.
Want more speed? Paid plans are an optional add-on with much more hashrate. Every plan uses the same maths as this page, so you can watch mining rewards build up without a power bill. See how much bitcoin you’ll earn and the reward rules.
Frequently asked questions
Is Bitcoin mining still profitable in 2026?
For miners with cheap electricity and efficient machines, usually yes. On a typical household tariff most machines earn less than their power costs, before you even pay for the hardware. Check your own numbers against today’s live hashprice in the map on this page.
What is hashprice?
Hashprice is what 1 TH/s of mining power is expected to earn in a day, in BTC or in dollars. It moves with the network hashrate, the block reward, transaction fees and the bitcoin price.
What electricity price do you need to mine Bitcoin profitably?
It depends on your machine’s efficiency. The break-even price is hashprice divided by the machine’s daily energy per TH/s, so a more efficient machine can afford dearer power. The calculator on this page shows it live for each machine.
Is mining Bitcoin at home worth it?
Rarely for the money. Home electricity usually costs more than a machine’s break-even price, and air-cooled miners are very loud and produce kilowatts of heat. People who do it often have cheap or surplus power, or use the heat.
What happens to mining profit after the halving?
The new-coin part of the block reward halves, so a machine earns roughly half the BTC overnight unless the bitcoin price rises or other miners switch off. The next halving is expected in 2028.
Can I make money with a Bitcoin mining app?
You can earn bitcoin with one for free. In CloudMineCrypto the free plan, ads, games, offers and daily check-ins all add mining plans, your BTC balance grows while they run, and you withdraw to your own wallet. A free plan costs nothing, so there’s nothing to recover. Paid plans are an optional add-on for more speed and can earn less than they cost. Rewards are estimates, and it’s a rewards app, not an investment.
How long does it take a mining machine to pay for itself?
There’s no fixed answer. It depends on the machine price, your power price and how hashprice moves over the machine’s life. Many machines never earn back their price on household power.
Sources and further reading
- Mining guide: solo and pool mining · Bitcoin developer documentation
- Controlled supply (block subsidy and halvings) · Bitcoin Wiki
- Difficulty · Bitcoin Wiki
- Mining pool reward FAQ · Bitcoin Wiki
- Mining dashboard: hashrate, difficulty and block rewards · mempool.space
- Cambridge Digital Mining Industry Report (April 2025) · Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance
- Antminer S21 XP specifications · Bitmain (manufacturer)
Live figures on this page (network hashrate, block reward, BTC price) come from the CloudMineCrypto API, refreshed hourly, 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.
You’ve read how it works. Now watch it happen.
Claim a free 8-hour mining plan in the CloudMineCrypto app and see your estimated BTC tick up from live network data. No hardware, no card.