Mining Calculator: How to Calculate Profitability in 2020

5 years ago
Mining calculator
Mining calculator

Over the past few years, the profitability of mining has seriously decreased. There are several reasons for this – a general market decline, an increase in the complexity of mining cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum and others, as well as constant jumps in the exchange rate. 

All this significantly complicates the calculation of future profits, especially for different equipment levels - from one mining card to ASIC miners. It was for this that special mining calculators were invented, allowing you to roughly calculate the income from a particular system.

In this article, we will analyze what a mining calculator is, how to calculate profit correctly and what data is required for calculation, and also step by step explain how to use it. 

What You Need to Know About Mining Calculators

The mining calculator is like an adviser that helps you determine whether to start mining any coin on a certain cryptocurrency algorithm, how profitable it is and even for how long it will be possible to beat off the cost of buying equipment.

At the same time, you need to understand that using the mining calculator you can calculate exactly the current income at the moment, but not for the future. That is, if you purchased equipment, suppose, for Ethereum mining, and the coin rate has seriously dipped, you can stay in the red. 

At the same time, the mining calculator itself is built on an algorithm that calculates profit on several parameters at once – network complexity, exchange rate and associated costs, such as electricity. Most services constantly update data, calculating the efficiency of equipment with various algorithms.

Typically, services are divided into two types: in the first, it is enough to select the name of the equipment and the calculation will be done automatically, and in the second one you need to drive in your own hashrate, the amount of electricity consumed, the cost of electricity, and only then will the calculation be made. 

And if everything is clear with ASIC, when you buy such equipment you know its power in advance, then with video cards and processors it’s a bit more complicated – not everyone knows what hashrate the GPU or CPU gives. 

Popular Mining Calculators

Mining profitability
Mining profitability

Since most of these services are presented in English, decryption of some values will be presented below, which will help to quickly understand the process: 

  1. Pool Fees – pool commission;
  2. Hashing Power – video card power or hashrate;
  3. Cost ֪– cost of electricity;
  4. Power Usage (W) – power consumption;
  5. Difficulty for revenue – mining difficulty;
  6. Maintenance – equipment support;
  7. Hardware / Contract Costs – the cost of the equipment or contract in the pool.

WhatToMine

Probably one of the most popular services providing the widest functionality for calculating the profitability of equipment. The site has a simple and intuitive interface, which even a beginner will understand.

WhatToMine calculator interface // Source: whattomine.com
WhatToMine calculator interface // Source: whattomine.com

This mining calculator refers to those that perform automatic calculation, just specify the video card from the list and click on the “Calculate” button. 

If we consider the process in more detail, then first you need to select the "GPU" in the upper field of the screen. Of course, WhatToMine is not all video cards, but they are mostly suitable for mining in 2020.

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Link to WhatToMine website

Choosing a video card, and in the case of a farm, you need to specify the number of video cards, below we select the algorithm on which it is planned to produce. Consider the Ethereum - Ethash algorithm as an example. If you know the cost of a kilowatt of electricity, then in the "Cost" field you must specify the price in cents. In case the price is unknown, it is recommended to specify 0 and consider the income from mining without taking this parameter into account.

WhatToMine revenue calculation table // Source: whattomine.com
WhatToMine revenue calculation table // Source: whattomine.com

Next, click "Calculate" and a table appears below that calculates the profitability of mining the most popular coins on the Ethash algorithm. If you are not sure of the correctness of the calculations or want to know more about income, then after selecting the algorithm in the table, click on the desired cryptocurrency and you will be transferred to another page.

Detailed calculation of the income of an individual cryptocurrency // Source: whattomine.com
Detailed calculation of the income of an individual cryptocurrency // Source: whattomine.com

Based on the entered data on the equipment, WhatToMine will note the algorithm and the coin that will really make a profit. Thus, this service will help sort cryptocurrencies by complexity, market capitalization, exchange volumes, hashrate, current income and long-term perspective.

NiceHash – Detailed Instructions for Use

Unlike WhatToMine, NiceHash mining calculator did not initially specialize in calculating the profitability of equipment, but the site provides a very convenient tool. Initially, this platform offers services for the purchase and sale of mining facilities. 

In general, the process of calculating profit from mining using a calculator is not much different from service to service. By going to the NiceHash calculator page, before choosing your equipment, you can familiarize yourself with the table titled “Top-5 of the equipment that makes the most money with NiceHash”.

Top 5 best equipment // Source: nicehash.com
Top 5 best equipment // Source: nicehash.com

In it you will find the most popular systems based on GPU, CPU and ASIC miners. To calculate the income in the calculator, just leave a tick on the device - GPU, CPU or ASIC and select the device from the drop-down list. Also in the column you can specify the cost of electricity.

NicaHash Calculator Interface // Source: nicehash.com
NicaHash Calculator Interface // Source: nicehash.com

After clicking the “Calculate” button, a table will appear below, based on which you can understand whether your equipment is profitable. Further, scrolling down the page, a table will appear called “Mining Power for Each Algorithm”. It reflects how specified equipment is suitable for any of the algorithms.

Counting earnings after choosing equipment // Source: nicehash.com
Counting earnings after choosing equipment // Source: nicehash.com
Mining powers for each algorithm // Source: nicehash.com
Mining powers for each algorithm // Source: nicehash.com

After choosing the appropriate one, click on it, after which you will be redirected to the statistics page. Here you can see the hash rate on the selected algorithm for the specified device and many other useful information.

Rubin Mining Profitability Calculator

This calculator is located on the 2cryptocalc website, and it is slightly different from the above services. But at the same time, it is not inferior to others in functionality.

At the top of the page are two buttons – “Calculator” and “Coins”. Moving to the first, you can calculate the income on 11 popular algorithms, and on the second – calculate the profit by choosing a specific cryptocurrency.

Rubin Calculator Interface // Source: 2cryptocalc.com
Rubin Calculator Interface // Source: 2cryptocalc.com

The main convenience of Rubin Calculator is the ability to calculate the approximate number of days that will be needed to mine a block during solo mining. As can be seen from the screenshot, when mining Ethereum on medium equipment issuing 302 Mh / s, the production time of the block will be 85 days and 16 hours.

Calculation of the income from mining a certain cryptocurrency // Source: 2cryptocalc.com
Calculation of the income from mining a certain cryptocurrency // Source: 2cryptocalc.com

In addition, below in the Pools List table you can find the most popular pools for the selected cryptocurrency. In addition, below in the Pools List table you can find the most popular pools for the selected cryptocurrency. 

CryptoCompare

Also a pretty convenient calculator for calculating mining profits. However, as in the case of Rubin Calculator, in this service the calculator does not determine the power in advance, all the data must be driven in manually. 

At the same time, unlike the above calculators, CryptoCompare offers a calculation for mining only a few cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Monero, Zcash, DASH and Litecoin.

CryptoCompare Calculator Interface // Source: cryptocompare.com
CryptoCompare Calculator Interface // Source: cryptocompare.com

In general, this service offers the most simple interface and functionality of all. For the calculation, it is enough to enter the power of the equipment, energy consumed, the price of electricity and the percentage of the mining pool, if any. 

However, on the site itself, in the search bar, you can drive the model of your video card and, going to the appropriate page, see all the necessary data. After entering the data, the service offers to immediately display the characteristics of the GPU on a particular algorithm.

CoinWarz

Also, a fairly simple mining calculator with a good and convenient interface. And if CryptoCompare allows you to determine the profitability of only 7 cryptocurrencies, then here the choice is much greater. CoinWarz offers counting for over 190 different coins. 

Once on the site, go to the Mining Calculators section. Further, for convenience, you can select any of the presented cryptocurrencies by driving a name in the search. After that, you will be transferred to the calculator page of this coin.   

CoinWarz Calculator Interface // Source: coinwarz.com
CoinWarz Calculator Interface // Source: coinwarz.com

Unfortunately, CoinWarz does not determine the parameters of various video cards in automatic mode, so you have to look for the hash of your system yourself. This service, like Rubin Calculator, shows the number of days before a block is found during solo mining.

Selecting a specific cryptocurrency // Source: coinwarz.com
Selecting a specific cryptocurrency // Source: coinwarz.com

At the bottom of the screen, already familiar, is a table in which the profitability is calculated by day, month, week, and so on.

Calculation of income // Source: coinwarz.com
Calculation of income // Source: coinwarz.com

CoinDuck

Quite convenient for calculating profitability is the mining calculator built into the CoinDuck information website. By clicking on the appropriate tab, the user is presented with a choice - “Video Cards (GPU)”, “Asik (ASIC)” and “All Coins”.

In the section with video cards, the most popular models from the manufacturers Nvidia and AMD are presented. Here you can also select the number of GPUs you need to calculate.

CoinDuck calculator interface // Source: coinduck.com
CoinDuck calculator interface // Source: coinduck.com

After choosing a model, the second paragraph will automatically calculate the hash rate for each of the 23 algorithms. In the third paragraph, you need to specify the cost of electricity and click on the button “Calculate profitability”. After that, the table from point 4 will be updated and you can see the profitability from mining various cryptocurrencies. 

Choice of Algorithms // Source: coinduck.com
Choice of Algorithms // Source: coinduck.com

In case you need to calculate profit from ASIC miners, you need to know the hashrate in advance - you cannot choose a specific model here. Further, everything happens according to the usual scenario. 

We also recommend watching a useful video below, which details how to use mining calculators and how to calculate profitability:

How to calculate the profitability of mining

Which Mining Calculator to Choose

Unambiguously answer this question will not work. Cryptocurrency mining calculators calculate the estimated income based on statistical information using the entered values. 

At the same time, the program cannot take into account such important indicators as exchange rate volatility, pool efficiency, exchange rates, and so on. Accordingly, the income will be completely different already on the choice of solo mining or in the pool for mining. In the second case, everything also depends on the total capacity of the pool.

Due to the instability of the market, cryptocurrency mining has partially lost its profitability. This applies both to the absence of any regulation, and the cost of electricity, equipment maintenance, and many other factors. 

Despite all this, cryptocurrency calculators provide a good opportunity to calculate the approximate mining profitability in 2020, as well as choose the appropriate algorithm and cryptocurrency. 

But it is important not to rely solely on mining calculators - this is simply not enough. In order to join the mining process, you need to study the entire process from time to time, be aware of the latest developments in the market, which can easily affect your income in a negative way. And in order not to miss important cryptocurrency news, we recommend that you regularly read this section on our website.