Estimate earnings and ROI for GPU and ASIC mining across major cryptocurrencies
Cryptocurrency mining is one of the oldest ways to earn digital assets, but whether it is profitable depends on a complex interplay of hardware performance, electricity costs, coin prices, and network conditions. Our Mining Profitability Calculator cuts through the complexity and gives you a clear, data-driven picture of what you can realistically expect to earn — and whether mining makes financial sense for your situation. This tool supports nine major mineable cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin (BTC, SHA-256), Ethereum Classic (ETC, Etchash), Ravencoin (RVN, KawPow), Kaspa (KAS, KHeavyHash), Ergo (ERGO, Autolykos2), Zcash (ZEC, Equihash), Monero (XMR, RandomX), Litecoin (LTC, Scrypt), and Dogecoin (DOGE, Scrypt). Each coin uses a different mining algorithm, which determines which hardware is competitive — ASICs dominate SHA-256 and Scrypt, while GPU miners still compete on KawPow, Autolykos2, RandomX, and Equihash. The core profitability formula is straightforward: Daily Revenue = Daily Coins Mined × Coin Price. Daily Coins Mined = (Your Hashrate / Network Hashrate) × (86,400 / Block Time) × Block Reward. From this gross revenue, you subtract three categories of costs: electricity (the largest and most important cost), pool fees (typically 1-3% of gross revenue), and any other daily operating costs like maintenance or hosting fees. What remains is your net daily profit. Electricity cost is the single most important variable in mining profitability. Industrial miners in regions with hydropower, geothermal energy, or curtailed natural gas can pay as little as $0.02–$0.04 per kWh, while residential miners in Europe or North America typically pay $0.10–$0.25 per kWh. This difference is decisive: a miner that is highly profitable at $0.04/kWh may lose money at $0.12/kWh. Our electricity sensitivity table shows you daily and monthly profit at six different electricity rates — from $0.05 to $0.20/kWh — so you can immediately see your break-even electricity rate. Network difficulty is the other major variable. As more miners join the network, the total hashrate increases, and each individual miner's share of block rewards decreases. Bitcoin's difficulty adjusts every 2,016 blocks (approximately two weeks), and has historically trended upward over time. Our Advanced mode lets you set a difficulty growth rate — expressed as a percentage per adjustment interval — so you can model realistic declining profit curves rather than flat-line projections. This is critical for ROI analysis: what looks like a 12-month payback at current difficulty may extend to 18 months if the network grows rapidly. Hardware selection dramatically affects profitability. For Bitcoin, dedicated ASIC miners like the Antminer S21 XP (270 TH/s, 3,645W) and WhatsMiner M63S (390 TH/s, 6,890W) are the only competitive option. For GPU-mineable coins like Ravencoin and Ergo, modern GPUs like the RTX 4090 or RX 7900 XTX offer strong performance. Our hardware preset selector auto-fills hashrate and power consumption for popular devices — and if you use a preset price, it pre-fills the hardware cost for ROI calculation. Return on investment (ROI) analysis is where this calculator goes beyond simple income estimation. When you enter your hardware purchase price, the calculator shows your break-even days at current profitability, and renders an ROI timeline LineGraph showing cumulative profit over 24 months alongside a horizontal hardware cost line. The point where the cumulative profit curve crosses the hardware cost line is your break-even point. If difficulty is growing, the curve rises more slowly over time — making the break-even point later than a simple calculation would suggest. Break-even metrics extend beyond the ROI timeline. The calculator also shows your maximum viable electricity rate (the highest $/kWh at which mining remains profitable at zero margin) and minimum coin price required for profitability. These figures tell you exactly how much cushion you have against adverse conditions — a high maximum electricity rate means you are resilient to rising power costs, while a low minimum coin price means you can survive significant market downturns. All coin prices, network hashrates, block rewards, and block times used in this calculator are representative static values based on 2026 market conditions. They are provided as reasonable starting estimates only. Cryptocurrency markets are highly volatile, and these values can change significantly within hours. Always verify current values with live tools like WhatToMine, CoinWarz, or Minerstat before making investment decisions.
Understanding Mining Profitability
How Does Crypto Mining Work?
Cryptocurrency mining is the computational process of securing a blockchain network by solving cryptographic puzzles. Miners compete to find a valid solution to each puzzle (finding a hash below the network's difficulty target), and the winner earns the block reward plus transaction fees. For proof-of-work coins, the probability of winning any given block is proportional to your share of the total network hashrate. This means a miner with 1% of the network hashrate earns approximately 1% of all block rewards over time. Different coins use different hashing algorithms — SHA-256 for Bitcoin, RandomX for Monero, KawPow for Ravencoin — and each algorithm favors different hardware types.
How Is Profitability Calculated?
Daily coins mined = (Your Hashrate ÷ Network Hashrate) × (86,400 ÷ Block Time) × Block Reward. Daily revenue = Daily coins × Coin price. Daily electricity cost = (Power in Watts ÷ 1,000) × 24 × Electricity rate ($/kWh). Daily pool fee = Daily revenue × Pool fee % ÷ 100. Daily net profit = Daily revenue − Electricity cost − Pool fees − Other daily costs. Profit margin = Net profit ÷ Gross revenue × 100. Break-even electricity rate = (Daily revenue × (1 − Pool fee%/100)) ÷ ((Watts ÷ 1,000) × 24). Hardware ROI days = Hardware cost ÷ Daily net profit.
Why Is ROI Analysis Important?
Mining hardware is a significant capital investment — modern ASICs cost thousands of dollars, and even mid-range GPUs represent hundreds of dollars per unit. Without ROI analysis, miners risk committing capital to hardware that may never pay for itself. A machine earning $8/day net profit takes 625 days to pay back a $5,000 investment — during which time network difficulty may increase, coin prices may fall, and the hardware may become less competitive. Our ROI timeline chart shows the realistic cumulative profit curve with difficulty growth factored in, giving you a much more honest picture than simple flat-line projections.
Limitations and Important Disclaimers
This calculator uses representative static values for coin prices, network hashrates, and block rewards based on 2026 estimates. These values change continuously — sometimes dramatically within hours. The difficulty growth model is linear and may not reflect actual network dynamics. Real-world mining also involves additional costs not modeled here: cooling infrastructure, hardware maintenance and replacement costs, internet connectivity, facility rent, and potential regulatory costs. Pool variance means actual earnings fluctuate around the theoretical average. Always treat mining projections as estimates for planning purposes, not guaranteed income. Cross-check with live tools like WhatToMine, CoinWarz, and Minerstat before making hardware purchase decisions.
Formulas
Determines your share of block rewards based on what fraction of the total network hashrate you control. 86,400 is the number of seconds in a day.
Subtracts electricity costs, pool fees, and any additional operating costs from gross mining revenue to arrive at net daily earnings.
The highest electricity rate at which mining still breaks even. Above this rate, operating costs exceed revenue.
The number of profitable mining days required to fully recoup the initial hardware investment. Only valid when daily net profit is positive.
Reference Tables
Supported Coins — Algorithm and Hardware Type
| Coin | Ticker | Algorithm | Best Hardware |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin | BTC | SHA-256 | ASIC |
| Ethereum Classic | ETC | Etchash | GPU / ASIC |
| Ravencoin | RVN | KawPow | GPU |
| Kaspa | KAS | KHeavyHash | ASIC / GPU |
| Ergo | ERGO | Autolykos2 | GPU |
| Zcash | ZEC | Equihash | GPU / ASIC |
| Monero | XMR | RandomX | CPU |
| Litecoin | LTC | Scrypt | ASIC |
| Dogecoin | DOGE | Scrypt | ASIC |
Popular ASIC Miners — Performance and Cost (2026 Estimates)
| Miner | Hashrate | Power (W) | Est. Price (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antminer S21 XP | 270 TH/s | 3,645 | $4,500 |
| Antminer S21 Pro | 234 TH/s | 3,531 | $3,200 |
| Antminer S19 XP | 140 TH/s | 3,010 | $1,200 |
| WhatsMiner M63S | 390 TH/s | 6,890 | $6,500 |
| WhatsMiner M50S | 126 TH/s | 3,276 | $900 |
| Antminer L9 (Scrypt) | 16 GH/s | 3,360 | $2,800 |
| Antminer KS5 Pro (KHeavyHash) | 21 TH/s | 3,150 | $3,000 |
Worked Examples
Bitcoin Mining with Antminer S21 XP
Daily Coins = (270 × 10^12 / 800 × 10^18) × (86,400 / 600) × 3.125 = 0.0000003375 × 144 × 3.125 = 0.0001519 BTC
Daily Revenue = 0.0001519 × $85,000 = $12.91
Pool Fee = $12.91 × 0.01 = $0.129
Daily Electricity = (3,645 / 1,000) × 24 × $0.06 = $5.249
Daily Net Profit = $12.91 − $0.129 − $5.249 = $7.53
Ravencoin GPU Mining — RTX 3070
Daily Coins = (28 × 10^6 / 7 × 10^12) × (86,400 / 60) × 2,500 = 14.4 RVN
Daily Revenue = 14.4 × $0.025 = $0.36
Pool Fee = $0.36 × 0.01 = $0.004
Daily Electricity = (180 / 1,000) × 24 × $0.08 = $0.346
Daily Net Profit = $0.36 − $0.004 − $0.346 = $0.01
Litecoin ASIC — Electricity Sensitivity
Daily kWh = (3,360 / 1,000) × 24 = 80.64 kWh
At $0.04/kWh: Electricity = $3.23 → Profit = $9.50 − $3.23 = $6.27/day
At $0.08/kWh: Electricity = $6.45 → Profit = $9.50 − $6.45 = $3.05/day
At $0.12/kWh: Electricity = $9.68 → Profit = $9.50 − $9.68 = −$0.18/day
How to Use This Calculator
Choose Your Coin and Hardware Type
Click the coin you want to mine (BTC, ETC, RVN, KAS, ERGO, ZEC, XMR, LTC, or DOGE). Toggle between ASIC and GPU mining types to filter the relevant hardware presets. Select a preset to auto-fill hashrate and power consumption, or choose Custom and enter your hardware specs manually from the manufacturer's datasheet.
Enter Electricity Cost and Operating Parameters
Your electricity cost per kWh is the most critical input — check your utility bill for the exact rate. Enter your pool fee (typically 1–2% for major pools). If you have multiple devices, enter the quantity to scale all results. Optionally enter your hardware purchase cost to unlock the ROI timeline chart and break-even days calculation.
Review the Profitability Verdict and Charts
The results update automatically as you type. Check the profitability badge (Profitable / Breaking Even / Unprofitable), the daily revenue breakdown donut chart, and the multi-timeframe earnings table showing daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly projections. Review the electricity sensitivity table to understand how your profitability changes at different electricity rates.
Use Advanced Mode for Scenario Planning
Switch to Advanced mode to override the default coin price, network hashrate, block reward, block time, and difficulty growth rate. Set a non-zero difficulty growth rate to model realistic declining-profit projections. The ROI timeline LineGraph will show your cumulative profit curve vs. hardware cost over 24 months with the growth rate factored in. Export all results to CSV for spreadsheet analysis.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which cryptocurrency is most profitable to mine?
Profitability depends on your specific hardware, electricity cost, and the current market conditions for each coin. There is no single universal answer. GPU miners typically compare coins like Ravencoin (KawPow), Ergo (Autolykos2), and Monero (RandomX) since these algorithms are GPU-friendly. ASIC miners are mostly locked into whatever coin their hardware was designed for — a SHA-256 ASIC mines Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash, a Scrypt ASIC mines Litecoin or Dogecoin. Sites like WhatToMine rank coins by estimated profitability per unit of hashrate in real time. This calculator helps you evaluate a specific setup against a specific coin — run it for multiple coins to compare.
Why does my electricity rate matter so much?
Electricity is the primary ongoing cost of mining — it is an expense that never stops as long as your hardware is running. Unlike hardware (a one-time cost), electricity accumulates every hour of every day. Industrial miners paying $0.03/kWh can operate profitably when retail miners paying $0.15/kWh are losing money. This 5x electricity cost difference is the main reason large mining farms cluster near cheap power sources: hydroelectric dams in Canada and Norway, geothermal plants in Iceland and El Salvador, and curtailed wind or solar power in Texas and West Texas. The break-even electricity rate shown in results tells you the maximum rate at which you can still mine at zero margin — any rate above that is unprofitable.
What is network difficulty and how does it affect me?
Network difficulty is a measure of how hard it is to find a valid block hash. It adjusts automatically based on total network hashrate — when more miners join and compete, difficulty increases so that blocks are still found at the target rate (e.g., every 10 minutes for Bitcoin). Higher difficulty means each individual miner's share of block rewards decreases proportionally. For example, if the network hashrate doubles and your hashrate stays the same, your daily earnings will roughly halve. Difficulty has historically trended upward for Bitcoin over the long term. This is why ROI projections that assume flat profitability are optimistic — the Advanced mode difficulty growth setting lets you model a more realistic declining curve.
Should I use a mining pool or mine solo?
For virtually all small-to-medium miners, pool mining is the only practical approach. In solo mining, you only receive a reward when your hardware finds an entire block on its own — which could take years or never happen at consumer hashrates. A GPU rig with 100 MH/s on a Ravencoin network with 7 TH/s total hashrate has roughly a 1-in-70,000 chance of finding each block. Pool mining combines your hashrate with thousands of others and distributes proportional rewards consistently, in exchange for a pool fee of 1–3%. The result is predictable income that matches your theoretical share over time. This calculator models pool mining.
How do I calculate my hardware break-even (ROI)?
Hardware break-even (also called ROI period or payback period) is the number of days of net profit required to fully recover your hardware investment. Enter your hardware purchase cost in the optional Hardware Cost field and the calculator computes Break-Even Days = Hardware Cost ÷ Daily Net Profit. If daily profit is zero or negative, break-even never occurs. The ROI timeline graph shows your cumulative profit over 24 months alongside a horizontal line at your hardware cost — the intersection point is your break-even. With difficulty growth enabled in Advanced mode, the profit curve rises more slowly, giving you a more realistic break-even estimate. Miners typically target a break-even period of 12–24 months for new hardware purchases.
Why are the coin prices in this calculator different from current market prices?
This is a client-side calculator with no internet connection to live data feeds. The prices, network hashrates, and block rewards are representative static values based on conditions in early 2026. Cryptocurrency prices are extremely volatile — Bitcoin alone has swung between $15,000 and $109,000 in recent years, and altcoins can be even more volatile. These static values give you a reasonable starting baseline, but you should always override them with current values using the Advanced mode for accurate projections. Check CoinGecko or CoinMarketCap for current prices, and WhatToMine or Minerstat for current network difficulty and hashrate figures before making hardware investment decisions.