1. CKPool — The OG Solo Pool
- Status: The historical trust anchor for modern Bitcoin solo mining
- Fee: 2%
- Template control: Pool builds templates server-side
- Setup difficulty: Very easy
- Operator: Con Kolivas, running this since the early days
I’ve used CKPool off and on since around 2014. For a long time, when someone asked me where to solo mine, CKPool was basically the only answer I gave. It was what I used, what I trusted, and what I had the most history with.
I still think CKPool is in a league of its own in a lot of ways, not because of a dashboard or a feature list, but because CKPool is how we got here. It is the codebase that defined solo mining in the form most home miners understand it today.
Other pools can build on that foundation, and some of them are doing really good work. But you can’t fork years of trust, history, and proven payouts. That part has to be earned over time, and CKPool has earned it.
Pros
- Dead-simple configuration for miners
- Longest-running solo mining reputation in the space
- Solid uptime and reliability
- Great beginner solo pool
- Direct payouts to your address if you hit a block
Cons
- You don’t build or verify the block template yourself — CKPool handles it on their side
- Single-person operation
- 2% fee
- Minimalist by design, so don’t expect a modern dashboard full of features
2. Why I Expanded This Page
Until recently, I mostly recommended CKPool because it was the only solo pool I had personally used for years. That wasn’t because I thought nothing else could ever be good. It was because I’m careful about pointing new miners at anything where trust, templates, and block payouts are involved.
But as my kid often tells me, I’m stuck in my ways. The home mining scene has changed a lot. More people are mining with Bitaxes, Nerd*axe, Avalon, and other small miners. More pools are showing up. Some are noise. Some are questionable. But a few are genuinely pushing the space forward.
So I started testing and paying closer attention to other options. CKPool is still my default answer for a brand new miner who just wants the simplest trusted starting point, but it’s no longer the only pool worth talking about.
3. AtlasPool — Fast, Global, and Worth Watching
- Status: Newer solo pool with a serious infrastructure focus
- Fee: 1.5%
- Template control: Pool builds templates server-side
- Setup difficulty: Very easy
- Best for: Miners who want one of the fastest hosted solo pools regardless of location
AtlasPool is one of the newer solo pools I’m most interested in right now. The anycast setup is very cool: 100+ anycast locations routing into 9 actual backend nodes. In plain English, your miner connects to the nearest network path automatically instead of you manually guessing which region to use. That makes Atlas one of the fastest pools regardless of your location, and so far it has had a near-perfect track record for uptime.
Atlas runs modified CKPool underneath, so it’s building on a proven base while adding its own infrastructure and tooling around it. The admin, Matt, clearly knows his stuff and has been personable and helpful in the community.
The other reason I respect Atlas is that they’ve done real work around identifying scam pools and bad actors, along with building useful tuning, testing, and monitoring tools. That kind of work helps the whole home mining scene, not just their own pool.
I’m personally pointing hash at Atlas right now because I want to see them get their first block. I’m excited to see what Matt cooks up next.
Pros
- Anycast routing with a global infrastructure approach
- Built on modified CKPool software
- Admin is active, technical, and approachable
- Has contributed useful scam-pool research and mining tools
- Easy hosted-pool setup for regular home miners
Cons
- Newer pool without CKPool’s decade-plus history
- Still waiting on its first block
- Template is still pool-built, not your own node-built template
4. Parasite — Split-Payout Community Pool
- Status: Community-driven pool with a huge Ordinals following, but not exclusive to them
- Fee / payout model: 1 BTC to the block finder, rest split based on work
- Template control: Pool builds templates server-side
- Setup difficulty: Very easy
- Best for: Miners who like the social/community side of mining
It seems like you can’t be a home miner right now and not have heard about Parasite. These guys have picked up a huge following across the Ordinals community and now well beyond it.
I try to stay pretty neutral on the whole Ordinals debate. I like a lot of the Ordinals guys, and I also like a lot of the BP110 / filter-the-spam crowd. Parasite definitely has deep roots in the Ordinals community, but it is not exclusive to them, and they’ve proven themselves. They have serious drive, a strong community presence, and they’ve built something people genuinely want to participate in. I’m lucky enough to know some of those guys personally and call a few of them friends. Whether Ordinals are your thing or not, you still have to respect what they’ve done here. They understand marketing, they understand community, and they’ve made mining feel like an event. When Parasite is pushing hard for a block, it feels like half the home mining internet shows up for the party.
Under the hood, Parasite also runs modified CKPool, but with a custom payout model. The miner who finds the block gets 1 BTC, and the rest of the reward is split based on contributed work. That’s not pure solo mining in the traditional CKPool sense, but it creates a different kind of incentive and gives smaller miners a reason to join in even if they are unlikely to be the actual block finder.
They’re also pushing serious hash and have already found blocks. I still think people should understand the payout model before pointing hash there, but as a community phenomenon, Parasite deserves credit. They’re the block party kings of home mining.
Pros
- Huge community energy and strong marketing
- Custom payout model gives everyone participating some upside when a block is found
- Built on modified CKPool software
- Already found blocks
- Makes mining fun and social
Cons
- Not traditional pure solo mining like CKPool
- The culture and payout model may not be the right fit for everyone
- You need to understand the payout model before mining there
- Template is still pool-built, not your own node-built template
5. Ocean + DATUM — Decentralized Block Construction From Your Own Node
ocean.xyz · DATUM Gateway (GitHub)
- Status: Newer, cutting-edge tech stack
- Fee: 1% with DATUM
- Template control: Built from your own full node
- Setup difficulty: Medium
- Best for: People who care about decentralization, template transparency, and propagation speed
Ocean handles the pool coordination and block relay. DATUM Gateway, together with your own full node, builds the actual block template locally, inserts your payout address, and serves work to your miners. When you hit a block, payouts are non-custodial: your reward is paid directly in the coinbase transaction.
You pair this setup with a full node — Bitcoin Core or Bitcoin Knots. I personally like Knots for the extra policy transparency and features, but both work.
Pros
- Your node builds the block template
- Trust-minimized payouts
- Excellent propagation for solo mining
- Actively developed by people who care about decentralization
- Clean dashboard and good metrics
Cons
- Requires a full node and some Linux comfort
- More moving parts than a simple hosted pool
6. Umbrel Solo Mining App — Zero-Fee, Point-and-Click
- Status: Node-in-a-box with a friendly UI
- Fee: 0%
- Template control: Node-built, but app-managed rather than hand-edited
- Setup difficulty: Easy
- Best for: Zero-fee, self-sovereign solo mining without touching the command line
Umbrel wraps a Bitcoin node and solo-mining stack into a point-and-click environment. A typical setup is
running their Bitcoin node app plus a solo mining / pool app on top. Your Umbrel app stack talks to
your full node via getblocktemplate instead of a remote pool, but it does not give
you a GUI to hand-edit the template itself.
Pros
- Zero pool fee — you keep 100% of the block reward if you hit one
- Your node’s view of the chain and mempool drive the block template
- Much easier to install and manage than a raw Linux stack
- Nice UI for monitoring and managing your node
Cons
- Requires an Umbrel device or compatible server
- Selection logic is handled automatically by the app in most cases
- You still need to care about node health and uptime
- Container and appliance-style setups lower the barrier to entry, but that cuts both ways. If you don’t understand what is happening under the hood, you may be trading pool-operator trust for app or container-maintainer trust.
7. Fully Self-Hosted Solo Mining (DIY)
- Status: The purest, most sovereign option
- Fee: 0%
- Template control: Full — you build everything yourself
- Setup difficulty: Advanced
- Best for: Purists, hackers, and anyone comfortable with Linux and networking
Fully self-hosted solo mining means you run everything yourself: a full node, your mempool, your block templates, your own stratum proxy, and all miner connections.
Pros
- Fully trustless and private
- 0% fee — nobody taking a cut of your block
- Maximum control over policies and templates
- Perfect if you want full sovereignty over your mining setup
Cons
- Requires real Linux/server and networking skills
- You own all uptime, propagation, and configuration risk
- Easy to misconfigure if you rush it or copy/paste blindly