- Best Bitcoin Mining Software
- What is Bitcoin Mining Software?
- Mining Software Compared
- Quick Tip
- Importance of Bitcoin Mining Software
- Bitcoin Wallets
- Mining Software Overviews
- Find the Right Software for You
- Braiins OS+ Overview
- Best Bitcoin Mining Software For Windows
- Supported Hardware
- Performance
- Features
- Command Line
- Two-Factor Authentication
- Technical Support
- Implementation of Stratum V2
- Should You Use Braiins OS?
- Hive OS Overview
- Best Bitcoin Mining Software For MacOS
- HEADS UP!
- Tracking Metrics with Hive OS
- Quick Tip
- Easy Install
- ETH Mining Pool
- Quick Tip
- Best Bitcoin Mining Software
- Join the cryptocurrency craze with these top bitcoin mining programs
- The Best Bitcoin Mining Software for 2021
- Best Overall : CGMiner
- Best for Customization : BFGMiner
- Best for Ease of Use : MultiMiner
- Best Centralized Management : Awesome Miner
- Final Verdict
- Compare Providers
- What Is Bitcoin Mining Software?
- How Long Does It Take to Mine One Bitcoin?
- Can You Mine Bitcoin for Free?
- How We Chose the Best Bitcoin Mining Software
Best Bitcoin Mining Software
Now that you already know about the best Bitcoin mining hardware, we’re going to talk about Bitcoin mining software.
What is Bitcoin Mining Software?
Bitcoin mining hardware handles the actual Bitcoin mining process, but:
Bitcoin mining software is equally as important.
- If you are a solo miner: the mining software connects your Bitcoin miner to the blockchain.
- If you mine with a pool: the software will connect you to your mining pool.
- If you are cloud mining: you do not need mining software.
Mining Software Compared
Software | Category | Pricing | Best Feature | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Braiins OS+ | Best Overall | 1-2% depending on pool |
| |
Hive OS | Best For MacOS | $2/month per device | Amazing mobile app |
Quick Tip
Mining is not the fastest way to get bitcoins.
Buying bitcoin is the fastest way.
Importance of Bitcoin Mining Software
The main job of the software is to deliver the mining hardware’s work to the rest of the Bitcoin network and to receive the completed work from other miners on the network.
Bitcoin mining software monitors this input and output of your miner while also displaying statistics such as the speed of your miner, hashrate, fan speed and the temperature.
You may also need Bitcoin tax software in order to calculate your taxes owed. Just as an example, we have a great guide on how that software works to pay taxes on Coinbase buys.
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Bitcoin Wallets
One of the most important things you will need before using any kind of Bitcoin mining software is a wallet.
This is because all Bitcoin mining software will ask you for a Bitcoin address that will be used to send your mining rewards and payouts. Once you create or download a wallet you will be able to get a Bitcoin address from your wallet.
Check out our guide on how to add funds to your wallet.
There are many Bitcoin wallets, but these are the ones we recommend if you are just starting out:
- Ledger Nano X – Secure Bitcoin hardware wallet for all platforms.
- iOS Wallets – The most popular Bitcoin wallets for iOS.
- Android Wallets – The most popular Bitcoin wallets on Android.
- Desktop Wallets – The most popular Bitcoin wallets for desktop.
Now that we understand mining software and how it helps in the mining process, and you have your Bitcoin wallet and address, let’s look at different software on different operating systems.
Disclaimer: Mining Bitcoin is NOT the best way to get bitcoins. Buying Bitcoin is.
To buy bitcoin in your country, check our country guides:
…or visit our exchange finder if your country is not listed above.
Mining Software Overviews
Find the Right Software for You
So which software should you choose?
Let’s go over all the most important info for each mining software.
By the end, you should be able to pick the best bitcoin mining software for you.
Braiins OS+ Overview
Best Bitcoin Mining Software For Windows
Braiins OS is part of Satoshi Labs and is the creation of the original inventor of mining pools, Marek “Slush” Palatinus. You may also know Marek for his invention of the Trezor, the world’s first hardware wallet.
Unlike many other mining software and operating systems, Braiins is completely free. Satoshi Labs makes money off of Braiins OS by offering you incentives to join their Slush mining pool, although this is not required to use their software.
Supported Hardware
Braains OS+ currently supports Antminer S9, S9i and S9j. Support for Antminer S17 and T17 are coming soon. Thankfully, Braiins OS+ makes the S9 family so much more efficient, that it can extend the life of your Antminer S9 ASICs. It achieves this life increase through better mining efficiency, which we will cover next.
Performance
With Braiins OS, you can increase the hashrate of your S9 up to 17+ Terrahashes per second.
Braiins OS+ can also take an S9 on low power mode and deliver 20% better performance than even an S9i.
For aging hardware like the S9 family, this is a crazy performance boost, so we can’t wait to see what Braiin’s will be able to do once they launch support for next gen Antminers like the S17 and T17.
While there is no up front cost to buying the software, you will need to pay Slushpool dev fees by directing 2% of your hashing power to their pool regardless of which pool you end up mining on. However, if you choose to mine with Slushpool for all 100% of your hashing power, that rate drops to 1%.
This is how Satoshi Labs makes money off of Braiins OS.
Features
Braiins OS boasts many features, such as:
- Unlocked SSH
- Automatic Updates to the OS firmware
- Device installation on all your devices at once
- Super Fast boot up speeds
- Pre-heating to get mining faster
- Complete fan control
Command Line
For the more traditional, tech-savvy users, Braiins offers a simple but robust command line interface for their mining software in addition to the more common graphical user interface that most people are used to. Both have their advantages, but many are more comfortable issuing commands with a keyboard instead of mouse clicks.
Two-Factor Authentication
According to Slushpool,
Every important change made to a user account requires email verification. We furthermore recommend enabling two-factor authentication using either TOTP mobile app or a hardware token (U2F). For even better protection, there is a possibility to lock your payout address so it can be only changed in future by a signed message from said address.
Slushpool takes the security of your earnings very seriously, which means a robust set of two-factor authentication options are at your disposal.
Technical Support
Braiin’s OS comes with some of the best documentation of all the mining software. If that doesn’t answer you questions you can reach out to Braiins for help or join their telegram.
Implementation of Stratum V2
Braiins OS+ has also implemented its Stratum V2 communication protocol. This protocol offers truly advanced features for power miners such as bandwidth load reductions, hash rate variance control, and hash rate hijacking protection.
It also comes with a nifty Proxy so that you can still use Stratum on other pools even if it isn’t supported by them.
Should You Use Braiins OS?
There is no one more experienced in mining software than Satoshi Labs, so you really can’t go wrong. These guys are constantly innovating, so even if you are running Linux, you won’t be disappointed in choosing Braiins.
That being said, if you don’t plan to start mining with Slushpool, be aware that you will essentially pay a 2% fee to Slushpool (in the form of redirecting 2% of your hashing power to them). By mining with Slushpool, that cuts in half and becomes very attractive.
For more info on mining pools and how to pick one, see our complete guide on mining pools.
Hive OS Overview
Best Bitcoin Mining Software For MacOS
Hive OS is a dashboard which allows miners to monitor and control all of their ASIC mining and GPUs from one centralized location. Doesn’t matter if they are made by Avalon or Nvidia — Hive OS has you covered.
Centralization is a scary word in crypto but in this case it’s great. Instead of having to monitor miners with different programs, it’s now possible to keep track of everything using Hive’s beautiful, one-stop dashboard.
Hive OS supports Bitcoin (BTC), Eth (ETH), Bcash (BCH), (XMR) and many other coins.
Whether you have three rigs or a thousand, Hive OS can easily integrate with all of them. Installation is easy as Hive OS automatically detects mining rigs and adds them to the dashboard.
HEADS UP!
Mining or buying bitcoins? You can’t do either without a Bitcoin wallet.
Our guide on the best bitcoin wallets will help you pick one.
Tracking Metrics with Hive OS
As a full feature dashboard Hive OS allows miners to track a number of different metrics. That includes but is not limited to,
- Hash rate
- Online status
- GPU errors
- Pool configuration
- Electricity usage
- Team activity
What’s great about Hive is that all of this information can be accessed from anywhere in the world. That means that you can manage a mining operation from anywhere, you don’t have to be physically connected to the miners. You can even use Hive OS to update ASICs (all at one time, it’s not necessary to update them individually) or restart a GPU if it has frozen.
Quick Tip
Mining is not the fastest way to get bitcoins.
Buying bitcoin is the fastest way.
Besides updating their rigs Hive OS allows miners to do the following,
- Change which coins are being mined. Bitcoin or BCH, Litecoin, Ethereum or Ethereum Classic, you can switch on the go if one coin becomes more profitable than another. You can use our profitability calculator as well.
- Change miner configurations all at once, there’s no need to painstakingly change individual settings.
- Change mining pools.
No matter what coins you’d like to mine Hive OS has you covered. They support more than 500 different currencies as well as 85 different mining rigs. To increase the efficiency of your miners Hive OS has firmware that can boost hash rates as well as cut down on energy usage by as much as 25%.
Pricing
Hive OS is surprisingly affordable at $2 per month per ASIC. For larger operations Hive offers discounts to any business with more than 500 miners. It’s also possible to receive Hive for free if you purchase the Hive firmware upgrade for your rigs.
There are a couple of other discounts available. If you deposit three months worth of funds into your account Hive will give you a 30% bonus on your purchase. You have to make the deposit all at once but otherwise there are few restriction on what it takes to qualify. There is also an additional 3% bonus if you make the deposit using a stablecoin like USDT or TUSD.
Easy Install
Setup is super simple with HIVE OS. All you have to do is download the software and it will automatically detect your rig and add them to the management dashboard.
ETH Mining Pool
For Ethereum miners Hive hosts its own mining pool which they claim is one of the most profitable anywhere. Hive mentions that due to their worldwide servers their pool is secure, efficient and also has a high payout. As of publication the expected daily earnings are $1.35 (0.00794 ETH) per 100 MH/s.
The minimum payout for the pool is 0.1 ETH and currently the pool charges no commission fee. There are three servers available. One in Russia, one in Europe and one in North America.
Quick Tip
Using mining software is not the fastest way to get bitcoins.
Try an exchange below for the fastest way to get bitcoins.
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Best Bitcoin Mining Software
Join the cryptocurrency craze with these top bitcoin mining programs
We publish unbiased product reviews; our opinions are our own and are not influenced by payment we receive from our advertising partners. Learn more about how we review products and read our advertiser disclosure for how we make money.
While some dismiss Bitcoin as a passing fad, many more are beginning to see it as the future of commerce. A 2020 survey showed that 36% of small and mid-sized businesses already accept cryptocurrency, as do many larger businesses and organizations including Microsoft, AT&T, and Wikipedia.
While Bitcoin can be purchased with real cash, it’s more commonly “mined” using a combination of specialized hardware and software. In this article, we review the best bitcoin mining software based on reputation, features, ease of use, and more. Here are our top four picks.
The Best Bitcoin Mining Software for 2021
- Best Overall:CGMiner
- Best for Customization:BFGMiner
- Best for Ease of Use:MultiMiner
- Best Centralized Management:Awesome Miner
Best Overall : CGMiner
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As one of the oldest bitcoin mining software, CGMiner is our choice as the best overall due to its open-source build, ability to run on any computer, and compatibility with multiple mining hardware.
Runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux
Compatible with ASIC, GPU, and FPGA
Better for advanced users
Obscure command-line interface
Hard to install on Windows 10 computers
CGMiner was developed in 2011 by Australian anesthetist and programmer Con Kolivas for mining cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Litecoin. It’s widely regarded as one of the best bitcoin mining software available due to its open-source nature, simple interface with direct controls, and cross-platform and cross-hardware compatibility.
CGMiner uses a command-line interface that allows users to mine their rigs remotely and control fan speeds and other settings with simple keyboard commands. The software also offers advanced detection of new blocks and makes it easy to scale up hashing power without delays.
Although it’s Linux-based, CGMiner is cross-platform compatible and can run on Mac and Windows computers. It’s also open-source and written in C, making it easy for anyone to verify the software’s code. In addition to being cross-platform compatible, CGMiner works with a variety of mining hardware besides ASICs, including FPGAs, GPUs, and CPUs.
CGMiner’s lack of a graphical user interface may be daunting to beginners, making it a better choice for advanced users. The software has been known to be difficult to install on computers running Windows 10. Antivirus software including Windows Defender can also give users a difficult time. CGMiner is free to download and use and is available on GitHub.
Best for Customization : BFGMiner
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Designed for FPGA and ASIC mining, BFGMiner offers advanced users the opportunity to tweak many aspects of their mining process, with dynamic clocking, monitoring, and remote mining rig interface, making the software our pick as the best for customization.
Mines multiple cryptocurrencies simultaneously
Runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux
Compatible with ASIC and FPGA
Better for more advanced users
Released in 2012 by developer Luke Dashjr, BFGMiner has become one of the most popular mining software available, second only to CGMiner. It allows users to monitor hardware temperature, detect and start idle threads, and manage rigs remotely, putting it squarely in the category of the best software for customization.
Because BFGMiner was originally created to add FPGA support to a popular GPU miner at the time it was developed, the software is only compatible with FPGA and ASIC. Like CGMiner, the software is written in C and runs on Linux, Mac, and Windows machines and even offers an option to install on Raspberry Pi.
One of BFGMiner’s most popular features is its support for mining multiple cryptocurrencies at the same time. By simultaneously hashing on mining algorithms like Scrypt and SHA256d, the software lets users mine, hedge, and redistribute their risk with multiple cryptocurrencies.
Like CGMiner, BFGMiner uses a command-line interface with customizable hotkeys. While easy to use for advanced users, the lack of a GUI may make the software impenetrable to beginners. BFGMiner is also free to download and use.
Best for Ease of Use : MultiMiner
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Developed using the mining engine of BFGMiner, MultiMiner features a clean GUI, automated hardware detection and mining features, and cross-platform compatibility, making it our clear choice as the best for ease of use.
Graphical user interface
Automated mining features
Optimized for Windows computers
Less customization options for advanced users
Additional software required for Linux and MacOS
MultiMiner was developed in 2013 by BFGMiner developer Nate Woolls. Although it’s built on the BFGMiner engine, the software features an easy-to-use GUI and quick-start mining features, making it our favorite choice as the best for ease of use.
While most mining software requires some coding skills, novices can get started with MultiMiner with no technical skills. The software walks users through the installation process and then scans the details of the hardware, including average hashing power and the linked pool.
MultiMiner goes even further and shows users exactly how to connect to a pool, including where to enter the information associated with the pool. The software also offers users remote access to their mining rigs, lets them choose their mining strategy, and automatically mines the most profitable or lowest-difficulty cryptocurrency with a display of estimated profits.
MultiMiner was created for Windows, so users will need to install additional software for Mac and Linux machines. Luckily, there are simple directions to do so. The software also makes it easy to switch mining rigs, including GPUs, ASICs, and FPGAs. Despite its appeal to beginners, power users can also access MultiMiner’s advanced features, including direct access to API settings and engine arguments. The software is also free to download and use.
Best Centralized Management : Awesome Miner
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Awesome Miner is a powerful mining software that lets users manage multiple mining rigs and miner’s pools, all from one dashboard. As a result, it tops our list as the best centralized management software.
Supports more than 50 mining engines
Customized triggers and actions
Access from any computer, tablet, or smartphone
No MacOS software
Not for novice users
Awesome Miner was developed by Swedish software company IntelliBreeze in 2014 as a cryptocurrency mining management application for Windows machines. It supports large-scale mining with a dashboard that lets users manage multiple mining engines and pools in one operation, making it the best software for centralized management.
Awesome Miner offers a number of powerful features to help users maximize profit and minimize downtime. The software can handle multiple mining hardware types at the same time (including ASICs and FPGAs), supports more than 50 mining engines (cgminer, bfgminer, xmrig, srbminer, etc.), and is compatible with popular mining algorithms (SHA-256, Scrypt, X11, Ethereum, and Zcash).
Awesome Miner also makes it easy for users to add, switch, and manage multiple miner pools with one click so they can start mining in less time. All of this is managed in Awesome Miner’s comprehensive dashboard, which also displays hardware properties like fan speed, temperature, etc. The software features a built-in C# script engine miners can use to make customized triggers and actions.
Although Awesome Miner is designed for Windows and Linux, the web version of the software can be accessed on any computer or browser. Awesome Miner is free to download and use.
Final Verdict
While new bitcoin mining software is being developed every year, only a handful grabbed our attention due to their reputation, features, and ease of use.
At the top of our list is CGMiner, which we chose as the best overall since its open-source platform can be used on any computer and practically any mining rig.
Advanced users will like BFGMiner, our choice as the best for customization, because of its ability to detect and start idle threads and mine multiple cryptocurrencies, while novices will enjoy MultiMiner’s friendly graphical user interface (GUI) and automated hardware detection and mining features, which make it our pick as the best for ease of use.
Finally, we choose Awesome Miner as the best centralized management since it’s compatible with popular mining algorithms and lets users manage multiple rigs and miner’s pools all from one comprehensive dashboard.
Compare Providers
Software | Category | Why We Picked It |
---|---|---|
CGMiner | Best Overall | Open-source software with cross-platform/hardware compatibility |
BFGMiner | Best for Customization | Support for dynamic clocking and multiple cryptocurrencies |
MultiMiner | Best for Ease of Use | GUI, automated hardware detection, and mining features |
Awesome Miner | Best Centralized Management | Manage multiple rigs and pools with one dashboard |
What Is Bitcoin Mining Software?
Bitcoin mining software is essentially what makes Bitcoin work. By tracking and securing transactions known as blockchains, users are able to earn bitcoins rather than having to pay for them with actual currency.
Bitcoin mining software can only be used by specialized hardware that is powerful enough to run the complex calculations required to create new secure blocks. The software connects to the hardware to either mine bitcoins directly or, more often, to a mining pool where multiple users share their hardware’s power and earn shares of bitcoins.
How Long Does It Take to Mine One Bitcoin?
In general, it takes about 10 minutes to mine one bitcoin. However, this assumes an ideal hardware and software setup which few users can afford. A more reasonable estimate for most users who have large setups is 30 days to mine a single bitcoin.
Can You Mine Bitcoin for Free?
Although bitcoin mining software is free, there are tremendous costs involved in both hardware and electricity costs. The specialized mining hardware can cost between a few hundred dollars to $10,000.
Mining equipment is also very power-hungry. Depending on the cost of electricity in a miner’s area, it could potentially cost $73,000 to process one bitcoin in a month’s time. One way to reduce this cost is to join a mining pool that harnesses the computational power of hardware owned by multiple miners. The drawback is that each miner only receives a small portion of each mined bitcoin.
How We Chose the Best Bitcoin Mining Software
We looked at close to a dozen bitcoin mining software for this review. At the top of our list was the oldest and most widely used software, which we analyzed for features and ease of use.
Next, we differentiated between the best mining software for novices and those for advanced power users. Mostly this broke down into the type of interface (command-line versus GUI) and ability to either automate or customize mining features.
Finally, we looked for software that could be used on as many platforms as possible and that was compatible with the widest array of mining rigs to give users the most flexibility in their mining operations.
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