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At the beginning of 2021, we observed an increased interest in cryptocurrencies from investors and miners, which is why the rate of cryptocurrencies is breaking new records. The profitability of mining cryptocurrencies also brings more income to owners of ASICs and mining rigs built on video cards.
Since the price of the second cryptocurrency increased up to $1,800 point per one coin, Ethereum remains the most profitable cryptocurrency for GPU mining. It is impossible to negatively answer the question of whether it is profitable to mine Ethereum. One of the components of successful mining is the right software. We offer you the top 10 mining programs that are suitable for both beginners and professionals.
Best Ethereum Mining Software in 2021
- ETHminer
- CGMiner
- WinETH
- BFGMiner
- Geth
- EasyMiner
- T-Rex
- Lolminer
- TeamRedMiner
- PhoenixMiner
Benefits of Ethereum Mining
According to Glassnode, on February 5, Ethereum miners earned $3.5 million in just one hour. Among the main reasons for the boost in mining profitability are the rapid growth in the ETH price over the past few months. On February 9, the coin price reached $1,800.
Ethereum miners’ reward consists of two components – a reward for the found block and a bonus in the form of commissions from transactions. The block reward is fixed – currently, it is 2 ETH. Video card owners receive commissions that regular users pay to conduct transactions. This indicator is unlimited and can significantly exceed 2 ETH coins.
Since transactions with the largest commission are carried out first, users are interested in increasing it in order to somehow bypass the general queue. This auction system provokes a general increase in the cost of transfers that are sent to miners.
Users continue to conduct transactions and swaps despite the terrific cost of interacting with the blockchain. So, the prospects for Ethereum far outweigh the difficulties in the form of high fees. The ETH haters’ idea that the sky-high gas price will destroy the cryptocurrency project has already failed.
What Is Mining Software?
Cryptocurrency mining is the process of finding solutions for a block using the capacity of special equipment. For each solution found, the miner receives a reward in the form of coins. Special hardware includes ASICs, graphics cards, and processors (although this is the least profitable option).
Another component of mining is software that helps control the process. As a rule, each program has basic computer requirements that must be considered before launching it, as well as hardware requirements. For example, one program is created primarily for AMD, and another for Nvidia.
Ethereum Mining Pools
Why is it better to mine in a pool rather than solo? The answer is simple – when you are mining in a pool, your income will be more stable because you will receive a particular part of the entire pool’s rewards.
The main criteria for choosing a pool are its reviews, pool hashrate, number of miners, payment scheme, and minimum withdrawal amount.
We have already made a detailed review of Ethereum mining pools, in which you will find a complete analysis of the pools with statistics and a comparison table with a rating. Here we briefly list a couple of the most relevant pools:
- Sparkpool (ex. ETHfans) uses a PPLNS payout system and has a moderate fee of 1%.
- Nanopool is a multi-currency pool offering just 1% as a fee and a PPLNS payout scheme.
- Ethermine is the most popular ETH mining pool, which has a 1% fee and a PPLNS payout as well.
- F2Pool is one of the oldest mining pools in crypto history. F2Pool has been around for more than eight years. This is a place where you can mine not only Ethereum but more than 40 cryptocurrencies.
Obviously, there are more reliable mining pools for Ethereum. While choosing one, please, pay attention to the reviews and overall community mood concerning the selected pool.
Ethereum Mining Software
There are some requests concerning the work of BitMinter, Claymore, and Minergate programs. BitMinter is down since 1/07/2020, but cashout will be available up to 1/06/2021. Claymore Dual Miner disconnected Ethereum Classic on 6/11/2020 and Ethereum – on 29/12/2020. Minergate cloud mining platform social nets have no activity since February 2020.
The software trends have changed since 2018. Here, we’ve compiled a list of the best and most convenient mining software.
ETHminer
Ethminer is Ethereum mining software that is implemented as a command line. Users can make shortcut commands using cmd or batch files. The miner is great for both professional and novice. With Ethminer, users can mine all coins based on the ethash algorithm, e.g., Ethereum Classic, Ubiq, Musicoin, Pirl, Ellaism, Vector, and more.
The software supports a wide variety of operating systems such as macOS, Linux, and Windows. This multi-platform software is also the best choice if you are looking for great productivity.
CGMiner
Released in 2011, CGMiner is the most popular software not only for Ethereum mining but others too (we’ve already mentioned this miner in the Bitcoin software list). The miner is compatible with ASIC, FPGA, and GPU hardware. Written in C language, the program works as a command line. It’s easy to set a hash rate, remote interface capabilities, and set notifications when detecting a new block. CGMiner allows its users to work with multiple devices and mining pools.
Speaking about usability, the miner is very user-friendly – all the information you need to fill in is a username, password, and URL. The miner is compatible with macOS, Linux, and Windows.
WinETH
WinETH is a graphical user interface for the ethminer. It offers a wide range of advanced options to set up; among them is a watchdog to restart ethminer in case of errors. Written in C++, this GUI works properly with Nvidia cards (and has an overlocking function). It helps to monitor core temperature, fan speed, memory, and GPU clock.
The miner has an automatic donation system. If you don’t want to use this system, you have to uncheck the donation checkbox. WinETH is compatible with Windows, Linux, and macOS.
BFGMiner
BFGMiner stands for Basically a Freaking Good Miner. The developers claim their software to be multi-threaded, multi-blockchain, and multi-pool. BFGMiner supports ASIC, FPGA, and GPU hardware. The miner is totally free of charge; however, users can pay a donation to the developers.
Geth
Geth, or Go Ethereum, is a command-line interface for running the Ethereum node. In fact, the software works as a multi-purpose dashboard for Ethereum. It helps to monitor a wide range of options, e.g., light client, developer chain, transaction pool, API, networking, gas price oracle, virtual machine, miner, etc. So, it’s possible to start mining Ethereum via Geth.
Written in Go language, Geth is suitable for experienced users. In order to start mining, a user needs to enable this function and enter several parameters. Geth also works as a wallet, helps to monitor the block history, create contracts, and transfer funds.
EasyMiner
EasyMiner is a GUI version of BFGminer and CGMiner. Besides great UX, EasyMiner has an intuitive user interface. In order to start mining, a user should choose the hardware and pool, fill in the worker name and wallet address. Then you save the info and run the miner. Voila! The software will create and run a .bat file automatically.
EasyMiner allows users to work simultaneously with both Nvidia and AMD graphic cards – this function is called 2Video. Also, miners can choose the mining mode – solo or in a pool. By the way, EasyMiner works with PPLNS payouts pools.
T-Rex
T-Rex miner works with a variety of algorithms – more than 30, including ethash, astralhash, dedal, honeycomb, kawpow, lyra2z, sha256q/t, x11r, etc. It is oriented on Nvidia graphic cards and works both on Windows and Linux. The developer fee is 1%.
T-Rex has implemented many features; for example, the miner will continue mining even in case of connection loss, the ability to set up the GPU temperature color, and a watchdog.
Lolminer
Lolminer was initially made for Equihash and Cuckatoo algorithms. Later, the developers added a lot more, so users can mine coins on ethash algorithm. The software was primarily produced for AMD cards. Even though the program supports most of the Nvidia cards, stability and work speed are not guaranteed. The developer’s commission is 1%.
TeamRedMiner
TeamRedMiner is an optimized miner for AMD GPUs that supports Windows and Linux. The miner works great with Radeon RX Vega series graphic cards. The developer fee for mining ethash with 4GB Polaris is 0.75%. In case you use other GPUs when mining ethash algorithm, the fee will be 1%.
PhoenixMiner
PhoenixMiner will not provide you with the dual mining option, yet it offers lower dev fees and a high stability level. The Ethereum mining software supports both AMD and Nvidia cards and can be run on Windows and Linux. PhoenixMiner Ethereum GPU miner software perfectly suits Windows 10.
You can use PhoenixMiner to mine other coins based on the ethash algorithm (Ethereum Classic, MOAC, etc.) The developers require a 0.65% of the fee for each miner. This is the lowest commission in our list.
Frequently Asked Questions
Having collected the most popular questions, we answer them in the FAQ section.
What is the fastest free mining software for Ethereum?
As we already mentioned, PhoenixMiner offers the lowest developer’s fee (0.65%). Moreover, the miner gives good productivity.
What is the best mining software for Ethereum?
We’ve already chosen the best mining software for Ethereum. There are plenty of other variants, so don’t hesitate to do your own research and find the one that suits you the best.
Can I mine Ethereum on my PC?
You can use any computer as long as it is power efficient. Spoiler: you won’t make a profit. The best way to mine Ethereum is by using GPU or ASIC hardware.
Is ETH mining profitable in 2021?
Today, Ethereum is the most profitable cryptocurrency to mine. According to the calculator 2CryptoCalc, one Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 Ti GPU brings about $3.4 per day on ETH, excluding electricity costs. For a month, income will exceed the level of $100, and if the Ethereum rate rises, the profit will be even higher.
What is the easiest way to mine Ethereum?
Basically, mining is not the easiest process. The most common way of mining is to create a mining farm with graphics cards. If you do not want to give yourself a hard time, then we are glad to offer you our services. On the widget below, you can buy or exchange Ethereum using a credit card or Apple Pay.